A United Nations (UN) process for reviewing progress on human rights supports sustainable development and offers countries a problem-solving tool for dealing with issues such as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report co-authored by a University of Strathclyde Professor.
Alan Miller, Professor of Practice in Human Rights with Strathclyde Law School, has co-written the study of ways in which good practice in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process has supported nations in their pursuit of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He has produced the report with UN Human Rights Officer Iryna Yakovlieva.
Professor Miller was elected by the Scottish Parliament to become the inaugural Chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission and then served for three years as a Special Envoy with the UN. He is currently an Independent Expert with its Crisis Bureau.
The UPR process involves a review of the human rights records of all UN Member States. It provides the opportunity for each state to declare what actions it has taken to improve its human rights situation and to fulfil its human rights obligations under UN human rights treaties.
The report follows research carried out in more than 60 countries across all global regions and highlights examples of good practice in 18 nations. It will serve as a guide to UN country teams in more than 160 countries with UN field presences.
Countries covered in the report include:
- Jordan, where new anti-human trafficking legislation was adopted following a UN-led advocacy campaign
- Malaysia, where the UPR helped raise awareness of inclusiveness as a key manifestation of human rights, such as the incorporation of migrants and refugees, including undocumented people, into the national COVID-19 vaccination programme
- Mongolia, where revised laws made domestic violence a criminal offence for the first time in the country’s history
- Mozambique, where legislation to eliminate child marriage was approved following a UPR recommendation
- Sierra Leone, where the death penalty was abolished following a UPR recommendation
- Thailand, where proposals for preventing torture and enforced disappearance are making their way through parliament
- Ukraine, where the definition of a ‘stateless person,’ under the country’s legislation, became fully consistent with international standards.
The report also makes a number of recommendations, including: independent verification of outcomes from CSOs (civil society organisations) and NHRIs (independent national human rights institutions); increased efforts by UN entities to protect democratic space so as to enable public participation; viewing the level of engagement of CSOs and NHRIs in the UPR process as an indicator of human rights situations; public information and education campaigns around UPR, and the use of relevant UPR recommendations to address emerging challenges.
Professor Miller said: “I am proud to have co-authored this significant UN Report along with my UN Ukrainian colleague, Iryna Yakovlieva. It provides examples of good practice, analyses key trends, identifies challenges and offers recommendations to UN Country teams on using a human rights-based approach to support sustainable development.
“The key message is the urgent need to increase public participation, so as to increase the accountability of governments to implement both their human rights and SDGs commitments, including in the context of the post-pandemic recovery and climate change.
I very much hope that it serves as a spur to urgent action.”
Achim Steiner, Administrator of the UN Development Programme, said in an address to the UN Human Rights Council that the report illustrates how the UPR “supports, indeed accelerates, sustainable development.”
He said: “We are leveraging human rights as a problem-solving tool in virtually every facet of our work and support. That means ensuring that people from all sections of society, including marginalised and vulnerable populations, have a seat at decision-making tables, so that they can make their invaluable contribution. That includes everything from community-based solutions to climate change, to people with disabilities driving forward inclusion, to ensuring access to justice for all.
“We know that 90% of the SDG targets are, in fact, linked to human rights, yet human rights often remain an afterthought. There is a clear need to support governments to integrate human rights targets into their SDG tracking and reporting systems, indeed into their entire SDG implementation planning systems. We need to ‘export’ the findings of human rights mechanisms more consistently into development practices.
“We know that a human-rights based approach to development, based on equality, inclusion and non-discrimination, is the best way to reduce inequalities and make that ‘high-speed’ connection to the 2030 (Sustainable Development) agenda.”
Strathclyde is a signatory to the SDGs, which the UN has set to pursue justice, peace, good health, responsible use of resources and the eradication of poverty and hunger. The University was ranked joint 32nd in the world and first in Scotland in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2021, which measure how more than 1,100 global higher education institutions are working towards the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals.