Human Rights Council convenes 17 session to review rights in 15 countries

The seventeenth session of the Human Rights Council\'s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group will be held in Geneva from 21 October to 1 November during which 15 States are scheduled to have their human rights records examined under this mechanism. The group of States to be reviewed by the Universal Periodic Review Working Group during this session are (in order of scheduled review): Saudi Arabia, Senegal, China, Nigeria, Mexico, Mauritius, Jordan, Malaysia, the Central African Republic, Monaco, Belize, Chad, Israel, the Congo and Malta. The meeting will take place in Room XX at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. Representatives of the 15 countries are scheduled to come before the Working Group, which comprises the entire membership of the 47-member Human Rights Council, to present efforts they have made in fulfilling their human rights obligations and commitments, assessing both positive developments and identifying challenges. During the session, an interactive dialogue between the country under review and the Council takes place. Each country review lasts three and one-half hours and an additional half hour will be devoted to the adoption of the Working Group\'s report for each country. The review for each State is facilitated by groups of three Council members from different regional groups, or troikas, who act as rapporteurs. The troikas for the session were selected through a drawing of lots on 14 January.