integrated fashion.
Thematic analysis of recommendations
Table 9 lists the number of recommendations made during the first cycle of the UPR. It is important to note that several recommendations pertain to more than one category. Hence, the numbers listed in the table do not add up to the total number of SRHR related recommendations made during the cycle (5,696). Observe that the general categories pertaining to human rights instruments, gender equality, women’s rights, domestic violence, and violence against women account for the top 5 of the list. Together these 5 categories account for 3,935 of the 5,696 SRHR related recommendations made during the cycle. However, this still means that 1,760 recommendations were made pertaining to very specific aspects of SRHR, such as sexual exploitation, abuse and violence, marital rape, HIV/
AIDS, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), sexual orientation and gender identity, abortion, and maternal health/ mortality/ morbidity. As mentioned before, each recommendation increases the potential for dialogue, advocacy and action for change.
It is evident from this table that some issues received very little attention during the first cycle of the UPR, such as contraception and family planning, sexuality education, early pregnancy, sex work and sex selection, among others. Laws restricting SRHR are wide-ranging, including laws criminalizing sex work and related practices and HIV transmission; and parental consent laws for accessing sexual and reproductive health services, including STI and HIV/AIDS testing, counselling and preventive services, contraceptive counselling and services, and abortion services.
However, very few recommendations on these subjects were made during the first cycle of the UPR. This indicates the need for greater research, documentation and advocacy on these issues in relation to the UPR process.
A few SRHR issues have been chosen for the purpose of deeper examination and analysis, on an illustrative basis. The considerations employed in making this selection included a manageable sample size (9) and coverage of major key elements of SRHR. A balance was sought between issues that had received a large, moderate and small numbers of recommendations.
TABLE 9:
Number of recommendations made for each SRHR issue during the first cycle of the UPR
Category Number of
recommendations Category Number of
recommendations International human rights instruments27 1530 Gender perspective in policies, programmes 37
Gender equality 1501 Abortion 37
Violence against women/gender-based violence 732 Violence on the basis of gender identity 35
Women’s and/or girls’ rights 635 Gender perspective in the UPR process 33
Domestic violence 463 Content inconsistent with human rights 33
Sexual exploitation/slavery 410 Forced marriage 32
Discrimination based on sexual orientation 232 “Honour” crimes 28
Sexual violence 227 Sexual harassment 25
Women’s participation 221 Polygamy 18
Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) 211 Others 18
Criminal laws on same-sex sexual practices 207 Sex work 16
HIV/AIDS 168 Forced sterilization 15
Discrimination based on gender identity 143 Sexuality education 15
Same-sex desiring persons 139 Right to privacy 13
Trafficking in women and/or girls 138 Family planning 9
Sexual abuse 125 Human rights defenders 8
Harmful practices based on cultural/ traditional
values 102 Early pregnancy 7
Maternal health/morbidity/mortality 92 Contraception 6
Training for State personnel on SRHR Issues 87 Right to marry 5
Transgender person’s rights 80 Age of consent for sexual activity 3
Early marriage 63 Sexually transmitted infections (STI) 3
Marital rape 51 “Adultery” 2
Violence on the basis of sexual orientation 48 Pornography 2
Empowerment of women 47 Adolescent sexual activity 0
Birth registration 45 Intersex persons’ rights 0
Marginalized groups of women 45 Negative portrayal of women and girls
(gender stereotyping) 0
Sexual and/or reproductive rights and/or health
broadly 39 Sex selection 0
TABLE 9
24 LESSONS FROM THE FIRST CYCLE OF THE UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW TABLE 10:
Performance by region during the first cycle of the UPR, on maternal health/mortality/
morbidity
Region Recommendations
made* Recommendations
received Recommendations
accepted Recommendations rejected
Africa 17 44 43 1
Asia-Pacific 20 20 17 1
Eastern Europe 10 5 4 1
Latin America and the Caribbean
11 21 19 1
Western Europe and Others
25 2 2 0
*This excludes Palestine30 and the Holy See.
TABLE 10
Maternal health, mortality and morbidity:
A total of 92 recommendations were made on these issues. Similar to HIV/AIDS, a number of recommendations encouraged reviewed States to continue their efforts or share good practices, without making constructive and effective
suggestions. Several general recommendations were made, asking States to “take measures” or “adopt programmes”. A recommendation was made to
“reduce the maternal mortality rate” without any specificity therein. In contrast, a Member State made a recommendation to “include women in decision-making about maternal health, including in decisions on the design of local health care mechanisms, in a bid to strengthen its efforts to reduce maternal mortality”, reflecting the human rights principle of participation elaborated in the 2010 report of the OHCHR on preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and human rights28 and the 2012 technical guidance29. A few recommendations recognized the link between unsafe abortions and maternal mortality, as well as the link between early pregnancy and maternal morbidity and mortality. Several made the links with the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Two recommendations related to maternal morbidity in a general manner; there were no
recommendations on treatment of obstetric fistula or reduction of associated stigma.
Of the 92 recommendations, 85 were accepted, reflecting widespread commitment to the issue and scope for significant change. Four were rejected and three received unclear responses. Of the rejected recommendations, two pertained to reviewing legislation on abortion. One was linked with ending discrimination in the food distribution programme and recommended prioritizing pregnant women; the SuR did not provide a specific reason for its non-acceptance but stated that it had rejected 50 recommendations, regarding them as politicized.
The last one was linked with women’s access to health services, and the SuR stated in its response that gynecological and other health services are available at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of health care during pregnancy, childbirth and after childbirth.
Child, early and forced marriage: A total of 80 recommendations were made on these issues during the first cycle of the UPR. Most of the recommendations pertained to legislative and policy changes, especially setting a minimum age for marriage, in most cases at 18 years, for both
TABLE 11:
Performance by region during the first cycle of the UPR, on child, early and forced marriage
Region Recommendations
made* Recommendations
received Recommendations
accepted Recommendations rejected
Africa 7 31 21 4
Asia-Pacific 5 30 29 1
Eastern Europe 12 2 1 1
Latin America and the Caribbean
13 12 7 0
Western Europe and Others
42 5 5 0
*This excludes Palestine and the Holy See.
TABLE 12:
Performance by region during the first cycle of the UPR, on FGM/C
Region Recommendations
made* Recommendations
received Recommendations
accepted Recommendations rejected
Africa 16 205 168 7
Asia-Pacific 19 6 6 0
Eastern Europe 26 0 0 0
Latin America and the Caribbean
36 0 0 0
Western Europe and Others
123 0 0 0
*This excludes Palestine and the Holy See.
TABLE 11
TABLE 12
boys and girls. A few focused on public education, and others were quite general, encouraging States to address these issues. Several recommendations addressed other violations such as FGM/C, polygamy and domestic violence, in combination with the issues of child, early and forced marriages, exhibiting the interconnected nature of violations faced by girls and women, and the common root cause of patriarchal attitudes.
Of the 80 recommendations, 63 were accepted and 6 rejected. One recommendation received no response, while ten received unclear responses from 7 States. Of the 6 rejected recommendations,
5 recommended legal reform. Three pertained directly to early marriage and 3 were linked with other harmful practices and human rights violations. Reasons stated for non-acceptance of recommendations pertaining directly to early marriage included defence of existing laws and deference to public opinion and traditional practices.
Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C):
Two hundred and eleven (211) recommendations were made on this issue. Recommendations focused on reviewing, enacting and implementing laws and policies (approximately 120 recommendations), and
26 LESSONS FROM THE FIRST CYCLE OF THE UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW TABLE 13:
Performance by region during the first cycle of the UPR, on contraception and family planning
Region Recommendations
made* Recommendations
received Recommendations
accepted Recommendations rejected
Africa 0 6 4 2
Asia-Pacific 0 2 2 0
Eastern Europe 1 2 2 0
Latin America and the Caribbean
2 2 1 1
Western Europe and Others
10 1 1 0
*This excludes Palestine and the Holy See.
TABLE 14:
Performance by region during the first cycle of the UPR, on comprehensive sexuality education
Region Recommendations
made* Recommendations
received Recommendations
accepted Recommendations rejected
Africa 0 2 2 0
Asia-Pacific 2 6 6 0
Eastern Europe 0 2 2 0
Latin America and the Caribbean
2 2 2 0
Western Europe and Others
11 3 2 0
*This excludes Palestine and the Holy See.
TABLE 13
TABLE 14
conducting awareness-raising campaigns (more than 40 recommendations). A number of the remaining recommendations were very general in nature, asking the SuR to “take measures” or “promote efforts” to address the issue. An example of a robust recommendation is: “Adopt and implement legislation prohibiting FGM, ensure that offenders are prosecuted and punished, and take legal and education measures to combat this practice.”
A large number of the recommendations, 174, were accepted, reflecting the widespread recognition of the harmful effects of this practice as a violation
of the human rights of girls and women, and reflecting global and national efforts to end this practice, including a 2012 United Nations General Assembly resolution, statements issued by the United Nations system, work with communities and revised legal frameworks, including a law against the practice in 24 African countries, 12 other countries, and in several states in two other African countries31. Thirty recommendations received unclear responses32 from six States. Seven recommendations were rejected by two States, both of which stated that FGM/C was not practiced in
TABLE 15:
Performance by region during the first cycle of the UPR, on criminal laws related to sexual activity
Region Recommendations
made* Recommendations
received Recommendations
accepted Recommendations rejected
Africa 0 98 6 80
Asia-Pacific 0 45 6 35
Eastern Europe 40 5 3 1
Latin America and the Caribbean
14 57 1 39
Western Europe and Others
152 1 1 0
*This excludes Palestine and the Holy See.
TABLE 15
the countries. In both cases, the compilations of United Nations information reported concerns raised by treaty bodies about the existence of the practice.
Contraception and family planning: A total of 13 recommendations made specific reference to contraception or family planning. Ten
recommendations were accepted and three rejected.
Of the 10 accepted recommendations, two focused on increasing access to contraceptives, three on providing family planning information and education, and four on both; one recommendation encouraged the SuR to “ensure that programmes for family planning and awareness duly take into account the traditions and physical obstacles faced by women in rural areas.”
Of the rejected recommendations, two pertained to policy reform, focusing on the advertising ban.
The third focused on providing family planning information, and was linked with reviewing legislation to expand the grounds under which abortion was permissible; from the SuR’s response it is clear that this recommendation was rejected due to the content on abortion. There were no recommendations relating to restrictions pertaining to emergency contraception.
Comprehensive sexuality education: Fifteen recommendations were made pertaining to this issue. Fourteen were accepted and one received an unclear response. Three recommendations pertained to policy changes, and the remaining focused on provision of education and improving curricula. Five were grouped together with provision of health services, and five were framed in the context of countering discrimination or violence based on gender and sexuality.
In terms of the scope of comprehensive sexuality education employed by the recommendations, nine related directly to sexual or sexuality education, while one referred to reproductive health education, two to sexual orientation and gender identity, four to gender equality and two to human rights.
Criminal laws related to sexual activity: A total of 208 recommendations were made on this issue, including two that appear to be inconsistent with human rights norms: one encouraged continued criminalizing of consensual same sex sexual activity, which was not accepted; and another recommendation stated, “Reconsider the legality of prostitution given its impact on the realization of a whole range of rights,” which was not accepted.
28 LESSONS FROM THE FIRST CYCLE OF THE UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW TABLE 17:
Performance by region during the first cycle of the UPR, on marital rape
Region Recommendations
made* Recommendations
received Recommendations
accepted Recommendations rejected
Africa 0 15 11 1
Asia-Pacific 0 21 12 8
Eastern Europe 6 7 5 2
Latin America and the Caribbean
6 5 2 3
Western Europe and Others
42 0 0 0
*This excludes Palestine and the Holy See.
TABLE 16:
Performance by region during the first cycle of the UPR, on HIV/AIDS
Region Recommendations
made* Recommendations
received Recommendations
accepted Recommendations rejected
Africa 36 111 96 9
Asia-Pacific 46 25 23 1
Eastern Europe 20 9 9 0
Latin America and the Caribbean
21 22 17 2
Western Europe and Others
42 0 0 0
*This excludes Palestine and the Holy See.
TABLE 16
TABLE 17
Of the remaining 206, most recommendations (201) pertained to decriminalizing same-sex sexual activity; 149 of these were rejected and 16 accepted;
31 received unclear responses and 3 received no response. Notably, of the 206 recommendations, 30 were formulated more generally around decriminalizing consensual sexual activity between adults, which could also apply to adultery and sexual activity between unmarried individuals. In relation to the rejected recommendations, some of the reasons pertained to social mores, religious values, family values, tradition and culture.
There were only three recommendations pertaining to age of consent in legislation. One on
incorporating a minimum age for sexual consent was accepted. Two on equalizing the age of consent for opposite and same-sex sexual activity and adopting measures to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, were rejected. Two recommendations pertained to decriminalization of non-marital heterosexual consensual sex, were not accepted. There were no recommendations on decriminalizing sex work.
HIV/AIDS: A total of 167 recommendations were made pertaining to HIV/AIDS. A number of recommendations encouraged reviewed States to continue their efforts or share good practices,
without making constructive and effective
recommendations. Several general recommendations were made, asking States to “adopt measures” or
“strengthen programmes”. There was a great focus on specific populations, including, inter alia, children, pregnant women, young people, refugees, migrants, indigenous peoples, people living in remote areas, people in prisons, and same sex desiring people.
There were a number of recommendations focusing on eliminating HIV/AIDS related discrimination, but very few on policy changes (mandatory testing, parental consent, criminalization of transmission), or participation of key populations in designing laws, policies and programmes. Notably, no
recommendations were made on the subject to States in the Western Europe and Others group, although the OHCHR documentation for at least eight States raised HIV/AIDS related issues.
Of the 167 recommendations, 145 were accepted and 12 rejected; 3 received no response and 7 received unclear responses. Of the 12 rejected recommendations, 9 pertained to HIV prevention in relation to same-sex sexual activity and the reasons stated for their rejection included religious values, public opinion, and non-discriminatory provision of HIV/AIDS services. For the remaining 3 recommendations, reasons were not provided for their non-acceptance.
Marital rape: A total of 51 recommendations were made on the issue of marital rape. Ninety percent (46) of the recommendations pertained to the need for making marital rape a criminal offence. The remaining 5 were of a general nature, encouraging the SuRs to “take measures”, “put in place mechanisms”
and “‘step up efforts” to address the issue.
Fifty-nine percent (30) of the recommendations were accepted; their implementation will be a significant advancement for women’s SRHR.
Sixteen recommendations were not accepted, and 4 recommendations received unclear responses. In relation to the 16 rejected recommendations, SuRs defended existing laws, social norms and referenced ongoing processes.
Safe abortion: A total of 30 recommendations were made on the subject of ensuring access to abortion during the first cycle of the UPR, with Norway making the most (5).
Of the remaining 30 recommendations, 4 were accepted and 23 rejected; 3 received unclear responses. Twenty-six of the recommendations pertained to legal and/or policy reform. These included recommendations to bring laws in compliance with international human rights obligations (2), review punitive provisions (3), permit abortions in cases of specific circumstances (14) such as rape, incest, and therapeutic abortions, and reform foreign policies restricting aid to be used to perform abortions in cases of rape within situations of armed conflict (1). Six other recommendations pertaining to legal reform were somewhat vaguely worded. The four remaining recommendations pertained to conducting national dialogue (1; accepted) and survey (1; accepted), and preventing unsafe abortions (2; 1 accepted).
The 23 rejected recommendations all related to legal and policy reform. SuRs defended existing legislation and policies, citing sovereignty, compliance with national or international standards and religious views.
Health education in Laos © Chien-Chi Chang/Magnum Photos
30 LESSONS FROM THE FIRST CYCLE OF THE UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW
Conclusion
A number of points are clear from the above research and analysis:
• Recommendations on SRHR issues have been steadily increasing, although a large proportion of these pertain to human rights instruments, gender equality, gender-based violence and women’s human rights.
• As with the UPR in general, recommendations made on SRHR issues included very general ones and ones calling for States to consider taking actions towards guaranteeing rights. They also included recommendations that are robust, calling for specific actions and reflecting a human rights-based approach.
• Few recommendations have been made on a number of SRHR issues, indicating the need for greater engagement by stakeholders in the national reporting process.
TABLE 18:
Performance by region during the first cycle of the UPR, on access to safe abortion
Region Recommendations
made* Recommendations
received Recommendations
accepted Recommendations rejected
Africa 0 2 1 1
Asia-Pacific 0 1 0 1
Eastern Europe 4 1 0 1
Latin America and the Caribbean
1 18 3 13
Western Europe and Others
25 8 0 7
*This excludes Palestine and the Holy See.
TABLE 18
UPR session at the Human Rights Council © UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré