UPR CITIES PROJECT - USING THE UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW PROCESS TO BRING HUMAN RIGHTS HOME

UPR CITIES 2025: Using International Human Rights Mechanisms to Advance Human Rights in our Cities

In November 2025 the United Nations (UN) will conduct a comprehensive review of the human rights record of the United States under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process. The UPR process was created in 2006 to help strengthen international monitoring and enforcement of human rights protections and is overseen by the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), which is made up of government representatives. The UPR  process provides countries with recommendations on how to address and improve their human rights conditions. It is a peer review process where all UN member states regularly asses the compliance with international human rights of their peers.

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The Human Rights Cities Alliance (HRCA) is committed to working to support education and local actions that take part in the UPR work and engage cities and municipal officials in its process and recommendations. We are learning how to use the UPR to build local and national human rights movements and develop strategies for leveraging international pressure on public officials at all levels of government. Join us to help us bring voices from our cities and communities to this global conversation as we build support for more people-centered local and national policies! Together with communities across the U.S., we will assess local human rights conditions and build our movement for human rights in our cities.

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UPR 2025 Engagement Timeline

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• Stakeholder Report Submission Deadline to UN - April 7, 2025

• Lobbying UN Member Governments: April 7, 2025 - November 2025

• National Report deadline - July 1, 20 25

• Pre-session (unofficial Geneva event) - October 1, 2025

• UPR Working Group 50th Session Geneva: November 3-14, 2025, U.S. Consideration Nov. 10th @ 9:00am - 12:30pm CET

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HRCA UPR Webinars and Resources

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• Webinar Recoding: Empowering Cities and Communities as Human Rights Defenders: Global Tools and Strategies, March 13, 2025, Panelists: Jamil Dakwar, Director, American Civil Liberties Union's Human Rights Program; Danielle Landen, M.A. student in Human Rights Practice, University of Arizona & Intern, Human Rights Cities Alliance; Julio Mateo, Dayton United for Human Rights; Joshua Cooper, Human Rights Cities Alliance; Facilitator: Jackie Smith, Human Rights Cities Alliance & Pittsburgh Human Rights City Alliance.

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• Webinar Recording: Leveraging Global Human Rights to Protect Rights in our Cities, December 9, 2024, Speakers: Amy Bergquist, The Advocates for Human Rights; Nicoletta Zappile, UPR-Info; Joshua Cooper, Human Rights Cities Alliance, Co-sponsored by: Human Rights Cities Alliance & University of Alabama-Birmingham Institute for Human Rights 

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• HRCA UPR Toolkit

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• Resources and Information from previous cycles of the UPR Cities Work can be found here.

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Official Websites and Additional Documents and Resources

• 2025 UPR civil society "Shadow Report" Template created by the ACLU

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• United Nations, Human Rights Council, UPR home page

• United Nations, Human Rights Council, UPR Sessions, List of Sessions

• United Nations, Human Rights Council, Universal Periodic Review - United States of America

• Technical Guidelines for Stakeholder Submissions (OHCHR)

• UN OHCHR, Reporting to the United Nations Human Rights Treaty Bodies Training Guide

• The Universal Human Rights Index (database that allows you to search all the relevant recommendations the UN has already made to the United States in regard to key human rights).

• UN OHCHR Fourth cycle (2022-2027) focus: enhanced implementation of UPR recommendations

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• UPR Factsheet, University of Miami School of Law, Human Rights Clinic

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• Resources from the Advocates for Human Rights:

  • UN Advocacy chapter in The Advocates for Human Rights' toolkit, Human Rights Tools for a Changing World (pp. 2-13)

  • Introduction to UN human rights advocacy

  • Overview of the UPR
    How to find UPR documents

  • 10 Steps to Writing a UPR Stakeholder Report (2020)

  • Electronic UPR Lobbying Training Overview (2021)

  • How to Write a UPR One-pager (2021)

  • Identifying Countries to Lobby for the UPR (2021)

  • Sending Emails for Electronic UPR Advocacy (2021)

  • UPR of the United States: Debriefing on Immigration, labor trafficking, & Police Accountability (2020)

  • Minneapolis Commission on Civil Rights Stakeholder Report for the United Nations Universal Periodic Review (2019)

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• Resources from UPR Info:

  • UPR Info - Timeline for UPR engagement in the current cycle for the United States

  • Involvement of Local Actors in the UPR Process

  • Mayors, Human Rights, and the UPR

  • UPR Info's database of recommendations

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• ​Feb. 2025 List of US Civil Society UPR Working Group Co-Leads

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UPR U.S. Civil Society Reports

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• Discriminatory Taxation Policies Obstruct the Realization of Economic and Social Rights in the United States (HRCA & Pittsburgh Human Rights City Alliance, Ubuntu Institute for Community Development, & Dayton United for Human Rights Coalition (DUHR))​​​

• HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS IN THE UNITED STATES (University of Miami School of Law Human Rights Clinic, National Homelessness Law Center, HRCA, & other endorsers)