File:Press Conference after UPR Session Ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe.jpg

On November 5, 2010, a senior U.S. delegation made make a formal presentation of the U.S. Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The delegation was led by Esther Brimmer, Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs; Harold Hongju Koh, Legal Adviser for the U.S. Department of State; and Michael Posner, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.

It also included representatives from the Department of Justice and other U.S. government agencies.

The Universal Periodic Review was established by the UN General Assembly in 2006 as a process through which the human rights records of each of the UN’s 192 Member States are reviewed and assessed once every four years. All UN Member States are subject to this process. This is the first such review for the United States.

The U.S. report covers the nation’s human rights record on such important freedoms as the freedoms of speech, of association, and of belief. It also examines a range of challenges, including issues of discrimination and topics related to civil liberties in the context of national security. The U.S. report was developed in consultation with a host of U.S. civil society actors and organizations.

Subsequent to the formal presentation, the U.S. delegation spoke at a press conference and hosted a first-of-its-kind town hall meeting with U.S. and international civil society leaders to discuss further the U.S. report. This meeting aimed to extend the U.S. effort to promote transparency, open dialogue, and inclusion.