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QUB Human Rights Centre Seminar Series

"The Potential of the Universal Periodic Review to Create Customary International Law"
David Browne, PhD student, School of Law, QUB

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism was envisioned as the jewel in the crown of the new Human Rights Council when it replaced the old Commission on Human Rights. It is a truly universal process with every country from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe participating in a process explicitly designed to be cooperative rather than confrontational. With three cycles completed and the fourth finishing next year, the process has matured with an anticipated future focus on the implementation of supported recommendations. This raises the question as to whether these recommendations can be considered to have legal status. While the process is not an explicitly legal one, this doesn’t make the UPR legally irrelevant. In theory, the process can satisfy the traditional two-step test of state practice accompanied by opinio juris to create customary international law. Moreover, studies of state behaviour suggest that there may be candidates for customary international law status among UPR recommendations.

Thursday 27 March at 13:00pm in The Board Room (MST.09.022)