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ConclusionThe UPR and Human Rights in Southeast Asia: The Critical Role of Civil Society

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The Universal Periodic Review of Southeast Asia
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Abstract

When the United Nations resolved to replace the Human Right’s Commission with the Human Rights Council in 2006, the aim was to move away from politicising human rights to focusing on human rights promotion and protection. The UPR is a new and ambitious process that seeks to advance the protection of human rights globally. After more than eight years and two cycles of review, has the UPR made a difference on the ground, notably in Southeast Asia? This concluding chapter recalls the key findings, highlights key issues for CSO engagement in view of the third UPR cycle and points to the need for continued evidence-based research on the UPR, and to integrate CSO engagement across international, regional and national platforms, especially in light of the transition to a multipolar world order centred on the Asia-Pacific.

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  1. 1.

    The Charter bodies that have a bearing on the protection of human rights include: the General Assembly, the Human Rights Council, the special procedures of the HRC, the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council and their related subsidiary organs. The treaty bodies include monitoring mechanisms created under each of the core human rights treaties. They include Human Rights Committee (CCPR); Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR); Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD); Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW); Committee against Torture (CAT); Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC); Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW); Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD); Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED); and the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (SPT). The treaty bodies meet in Geneva, Switzerland. All the treaty bodies receive support from the Human Rights Treaties Division of OHCHR in Geneva. A brief description of each is available on the OHCHR website. http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/Pages/TreatyBodies.aspx.

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Gomez, J., Ramcharan, R. (2018). ConclusionThe UPR and Human Rights in Southeast Asia: The Critical Role of Civil Society. In: Gomez, J., Ramcharan, R. (eds) The Universal Periodic Review of Southeast Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6226-1_12

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