UPR: Stoisits attends panel discussion at Parliament

May 5, 2011

Alev Korun, Green speaker for integration, migration and human rights and Member of the National Council, invited to participate at the Green Club. The event served to give an interim update of the Universal Periodic Review and to discuss possible results, chances and obstacles. Ministerial representatives, members of the civil society as well as parliamentarians had been invited to exchange opinions on the Universal Periodic Review.

Parliamentary inquiries concerning the still open recommendations had been issued at the start of the foregoing week. Responses are expected to arrive before the final acceptance by the Human Rights Council, which is to take place in June.

The Review’s objective is the improvement of the state of human rights in all of the 192 UN member states. Austria underwent a review for the first time on January 26th, 2011, at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The civil society holds a central position throughout all of the phases (preparation, implementation and follow-up) of the Universal Periodic Review. Nongovernmental organizations and other institutions are supposed to participate intensively in order to expose possible weak points and deficiencies and also in order to set improvements. A special focus is posed on the dialogue with the government in order to effectuate progress within the protection of human rights during the procedure.