Implementing UPR Commitments For Promoting Human Rights Standards in Bangladesh

This article examines the roles of state authority, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to deal with new opportunities and challenges that Bangladesh has been facing after the second cycle of Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in 2013 to promote and protect human rights standards. The UPR is a new United Nations’ human rights mechanism under which the human rights situation of every UN Member state is reviewed within a regular periodic system. UPR aims to improve the human rights situation of the member state where every country gets the opportunity to present what actions it has taken to improve the human rights situation. In this process, state is the prime actor to implement commitments given under this review. Despite state authority, National Human Rights Institutions and CSOs have significant role in strengthening the implementation process. As Bangladesh has completed two cycles and now is in the follow-up stage, it is high time for these three actors –State, NHRC and CSOs—to develop a comprehensive and goal-oriented roadmap for implementing UPR commitments in Bangladesh.