Human Rights and the Universal Periodic Review Rituals and Ritualism

The Universal Periodic Review is an intriguing and ambitious development in human rights monitoring which breaks new ground by engaging all 193 members of the United Nations. This book provides the first sustained analysis of the Review and explains how the Review functions within the architecture of the United Nations. It draws on socio-legal scholarship and the insights of human rights practitioners with direct experience of the Review in order to consider its regulatory power and its capacity to influence the behaviour of states. It also highlights the significance of the embodied features of the Review, with its cyclical and intricately managed interactive dialogues. Additionally, it discusses the rituals associated with the Review, examines the tendency of the Review towards hollow ritualism (which undermines its aspiration to address human rights violations comprehensively) and suggests how this ritualism might be overcome.

Introduction: the regulatory power of the Universal Periodic Review Hilary Charlesworth and Emma Larking; Part I. Ritual, Ritualism and the Universal Periodic Review: 1. Ritual and ritualism at the Universal Periodic Review: a preliminary appraisal Walter Kälin; 2. The Universal Periodic Review as a public audit ritual: an anthropological perspective on emerging practices in the global governance of human rights Jane Cowan; 3. Keepers of the truth: producing 'transparent' documents for the Universal Periodic Review Julie Billaud; Part II. Assessing and Engaging with the Universal Periodic Review: 4. The Universal Periodic Review's first cycle: successes and failures Roland Chauville; 5. Rituals and implementation in the Universal Periodic Review and the human rights treaty bodies Heather Collister; 6. Effective NGO engagement with the Universal Periodic Review Ben Schockman and Philip Lynch; 7. Global media coverage of the Universal Periodic Review process Sarah Joseph; Part III. State and Regional Engagement with the Universal Periodic Review: 8. Representation and suspicion in Canada's appearance under the Universal Periodic Review Benjamin Authers; 9. The Universal Periodic Review: building a bridge between the Pacific and Geneva? Natalie Baird; 10. The effects of the Universal Periodic Review on human rights practices in the United States Constance de la Vega and Cassandra Yamasaki; 11. Africa's engagement with the Universal Periodic Review: commitment or capitulation? Takele Soboka Bulto; 12. Indonesia and the Universal Periodic Review: negotiating rights Yuyan Wahyuningrum.

Hilary Charlesworth is an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow and Professor of International Law in RegNet at the Australian National University, Canberra, where she is also Director of the Centre for International Governance and Justice.
Emma Larking is an Australian Research Council Laureate postdoctoral fellow in the Centre for International Governance and Justice at the Australian National University.