Nigeria’s human rights record will come under scrutiny for the fourth time as it undergoes examination by the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) working group.
The review is scheduled for Tuesday, January 23, 2024, at a meeting to be televised live in Geneva.
The announcement, made by the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday, revealed that Nigeria is among the 14 countries set to be reviewed during the upcoming session from January 22 to February 2, 2o24.
Previous UPR reviews of Nigeria had occurred in February 2009, October 2013 and November 2018.
The UPR working group consists of the 47 member states of the Human Rights Council, with the participation of all the 193 UN Member States in a country review.
According to the statement, the review process relies on national reports, which are derived from information provided by the state under review, reports from independent human rights experts, groups, and other UN entities, as well as input from stakeholders such as national human rights institutions, regional organizations and civil society groups.
The UPR, established in April 2008, conducts a peer review of the human rights records of all 193 UN Member States. During the fourth UPR cycle, states are expected to outline the steps taken to implement recommendations from previous reviews and address recent human rights developments.
Nigeria’s delegation for the review will be led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar. The three country representatives serving as rapporteurs are from Chile, Gambia and Malaysia.
In the UN release, the session will be webcast live on UN Web TV, and a list of speakers and statements will be posted on the UPR Extranet to ensure transparency, as the Working Group is set to adopt recommendations on Friday, January 26, 2024, with the state under review having the opportunity to express its positions on the recommendations posed during the session.
