CANADA’S UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW BEFORE THE UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL 

Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights 

SECOND REPORT

Chair
The Honourable Raynell Andreychuk 

Deputy Chair
The Honourable Mobina S. B. Jaffer 

May 2009

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            In May 2001, the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights (“the Committee”) received a mandate to examine issues relating to human rights, and, inter alia, to review the machinery of government dealing with Canada’s international and national human rights obligations.  The Committee has continued, pursuant to this mandate, to examine these issues through successive Parliamentary sessions and has continuously engaged in discussions with government officials, human rights advocacy groups, members of the Canadian mission to the United Nations Human Rights Council (the “UNHRC”), various countries’ ambassadors to the United Nations (“UN”), and officials from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, among others. The Committee has been particularly interested in the development of the UNHRC and its primary review mechanism for UN member states: the Universal Periodic Review (the “UPR”).

 

            In the Committee’s first substantive report, Promises to Keep: Implementing Canada’s Human Rights Obligations,[1] we examined the predecessor to the UNHRC, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, and made recommendations with regards to Canada’s participation in the work of the Commission, the implementation procedures Canada should adopt for international human rights treaties, and the measures Canada should take domestically to ensure that Canadian governments observe their national and international human rights obligations. When the United Nations Commission on Human Rights was replaced by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2006, the Committee took the opportunity to study this new institution and the international machinery, processes and procedures that were being developed for it.  The Committee’s May 2007 report entitled Canada and the United Nations Human Rights Council: At the Crossroads[2] constituted a preliminary study of the newly created UNHRC and related issues.  In June 2008, the Committee released a follow-up report, entitled Canada and the United Nations Human Rights Council: A Time for Serious Re-Evaluation.[3]  This report provided, among other things, an analysis of how the institution building process at the UNHRC had progressed since the Council’s first session, and made recommendations to the Government of Canada on steps it should take to maximize its position on the Council and work towards the establishment and maintenance of a strong UPR system.

 

            The UNHRC and the UPR were created by UN Resolution 60/251, dated 3 April 2006. [4] To guide the Council in its future work, the principles, objectives and certain criteria of the UPR process were further developed in the UNHRC Resolution 5/1, Institution-building of the United Nations Human Rights Council, [5] dated 18 June 2007.  While these instruments established that the UPR would be the main mechanism used by the Council to review states’ human rights records, and while guidelines established for the UPR process specified that the human rights records of all member states would be reviewed through this mechanism once every four years, the full practices and procedures that the Council would use to conduct UPRs and that member states would use to prepare for them had not yet been fully developed. When the Committee’s first report on the UNHRC in 2007 was tabled in Parliament, the UNHRC had yet to fully establish a schedule for reviews and timeframes for reporting requirements. Although it was known by the time the Committee tabled its second report on the UNHRC in 2008 that Canada would face its own UPR in 2009, precise details had yet to be worked out regarding the practices and procedures Canada would follow in preparing for its UPR or in responding to the feedback it would receive from other countries following the preliminary results of its review.

 

            Canada underwent its first UPR before the UNHRC on 3 February 2009, and the UNHRC working group on the UPR released its draft report outlining the preliminary results of Canada’s review on 5 February 2009.  The Committee is currently in the process of receiving evidence and feedback, both from government departments involved with Canada’s review and representatives from civil society who participated in the review process. The Committee intends to report comprehensively on Canada’s approach to its first UPR, as well as other matters related to the UNHRC, at a future date.

 

            The Committee is  aware that Canada was given a limited period of time to prepare for its review, and that some consultation took place with civil society both before Canada’s UPR on 3 February 2009, and following Canada’s receipt of the UNHRC working group’s draft report on 5 February 2009.   We also recognize that Canada’s response to the working group’s draft report is limited to five pages and must be provided by 2 June 2009.   It therefore has become apparent to the Committee that the processes and procedures used for Canada’s first UPR, both at the UNHRC and at the domestic levels, lacked clarity and transparency.  As Canada will be reviewed again within four years (as all countries will be), an upfront and clear indication in this respect would assist in providing clarity where there is now confusion for those who are required to or who wish to participate in Canada’s next UPR. We therefore recommend that the Government of Canada’s plan for the next UPR be publicly announced before or at the time of filing its formal response to the UNHRC on 2 June 2009.

 

            As stated previously, the Committee is presently in the process of receiving information and evidence regarding the UPR and other issues pertaining to the UNHRC, and will continue to monitor the UNHRC and Canada’s role in the promotion and protection of human rights as per this Committee’s aforementioned mandate. While we are not yet in a position to fully comment on the substantive issues raised with respect to the UPR process at this time, we have chosen to make recommendations on the importance of, and immediate need for a clear, effective and transparent plan for Canada’s next UPR from the Government of Canada.  This plan could establish broad and meaningful consultation and engagement with relevant stakeholders, parliamentarians and the Canadian public during the time period leading up to the next UPR. The Committee believes that reliable human rights processes and solid human rights foundations are essential to the guarantees of our human rights system.