Trinidad and Tobago’s Human Rights Record to be Examined

Trinidad and Tobago’s human rights record will be examined by the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group for the third time on Tuesday, in a meeting that will be webcast live.

Trinidad and Tobago is one of the 13 States to be reviewed by the UPR Working Group that sits until November 12. The country’s first and second UPR reviews took place in May 2011 and May 2016, respectively.

The Trinidad and Tobago delegation will be led by Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Faris Al Rawi, while the three-country representatives serving as rapporteurs for the review of Trinidad and Tobago are the Netherlands, Mauritania and Indonesia.

The UN said that the reviews are based on information provided by the State under review independent human rights experts and groups, known as the Special Procedures, human rights treaty bodies, and other UN entities national human rights institutions, regional organizations, civil society groups and other stakeholders

The UPR is a unique process that involves a periodic review of the human rights records of all 193 UN Member States. Since its first meeting was held in April 2008, all 193 UN member States have been reviewed twice within the first and second UPR cycles.

During the third UPR cycle, States are again expected to spell out steps they have taken to implement recommendations posed during their previous reviews which they committed to follow-up on, as well as to highlight recent human rights developments in the country.

The UPR Working Group is scheduled to adopt the recommendations made to Trinidad and Tobago on November 12,

“The State under review may wish to express its positions on recommendations posed to it during their review,” the UN added.

CMC