The government of Maldives is scheduled to participate in the 46th Session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group.

In a statement issued on Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed that the 46th session of the UPR commenced at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

Scheduled to proceed for a two-week period, the session will be wrapped up on May 10.

During the cycle, 14 countries will be under review of their respective human rights records; Afghanistan, Chile, Cambodia, Comoros, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Eritrea, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Slovakia, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Viet Nam and Yemen.

The UPR Working Group holds three sessions annually.

UPR’s Fourth Cycle review commenced back in November 2022 and is scheduled to conclude in 2027.

A state-driven process, the UPR involves a review of the human rights record of all UN member states.

The process in question paves the opportunity for states under review to declare actions taken to improve the human rights situations in their respective countries.

Further, the process also allows fellow member states to offer praise for these actions as well as constructive recommendations on how the states in review may fulfill their human rights obligations, further.

Groups of three states known as “troikas” assist each state review. These groups serve as rapporteurs.

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

Chargé d’affaires of the Permanent Mission of Maldives to the United Nations Office Salma Rasheed leads the delegation of Maldives at the 46th session of the UPR.

In addition to this, Counsellor Adam Hamid, Counsellor Aminath Shifaya Ibrahim, Second Secretary Maryam Fathika Fayaz and Attaché Raaidh Saeedh from the Permanent Mission will be accompanying other international organizations at Geneva.

The delegation from Maldives will actively engage and provide constructive recommendations during this UPR Session, in accordance with the key policies and priorities outlined by the government.

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.

Maldives participated in the 45th Session of the UPR Working Group back in January this year.