The Maldives is participating in the 43rd Session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR).

The 43rd Session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) began at the Palais des Nations in Geneva on Monday and will continue for a period of two weeks.

The session is scheduled to conclude on May 12.

Three sessions are held by the UPR Working Group annually with the Fourth Cycle review of the UPR having begun in November 2022 and scheduled to conclude in 2027.

The delegation from Maldives is actively engaging in the session of the UPR in line with the government’s key policies and priorities.

The Maldivian delegation will also be presenting constructive recommendations to all 14 States that will be reviewed at the session.

In his capacity as the Vice President of the Human Rights Council, the Permanent Representative of the Maldives to the United Nations Offices in Geneva Dr. Asim Ahmed will be chairing some of the reviews slated for the session.

Dr. Asim Ahmed is leading the Maldives delegation at the 43rd Session of the UPR as well.

The delegation includes Deputy Permanent Representative of the Maldives Mission Haula Ahmed Didi, Counsellor of the Maldives Mission Hassan Hussain Shihab, Counsellor of the Maldives Mission Aminath Shifaya Ibrahim and Second Secretary of the Maldives Mission Maryam Fathika Fayaz.

Involving a review of the human rights record of all UN Member States, the UPR is a State-driven process providing the States under review with the opportunity to declare actions taken to improve the human rights situations in their respective countries and allows fellow Member States to provide commendations for these actions and constructive recommendations on how the States can further fulfill their human rights obligations.

Each State review is assisted by groups of three States, known as “troikas”, who serve as rapporteurs.

Maldives has been selected to be represented in the Troika for the review of the Kingdom of Tonga, as a member of the Human Rights Council.

The UPR mechanism is designed to give equal treatment to every country when their human rights situation is assessed, with the objective of improving human rights situations in all countries.