International Monitoring of the Human Rights Situation in Belarus through the Universal Periodic Review: Lights and Shadows of the UN Human Rights Council Mechanism

Abstract

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the United Nations Human Rights Council is an international monitoring mechanism established within the frames of the universal human rights protection system, which involves systematic assessment of the performance of all member states of the UN with respect to a broad range of their human rights obligations and international humanitarian law standards� Since Belarus does not participate in the regional human rights protection system operating under the auspices of the Council of Europe, the application of the UPR in relation to that country gains particular importance� So far Belarus has been under review twice – in 2010 and 2015� The aim of the paper is to describe the rules of the mechanism and the process of the UPR concerning Belarus, to present — ABSTRAKT —