Introduction
During its tenth session the Working Group[1] on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in the Human Rights Council (HRC), on 7 May 2010 held its first review of the Swedish human rights record. Sweden had submitted its report on national protection of human rights on 22 February 2010.[2] During the review a number of noteworthy issues were discussed regarding the human rights situation in Sweden, and they were summarized in the draft report of the Working Group on 14 May 2010.[3] In the following I will shortly present the Universal Periodic Review process and then draw the attention to some of these problems, which despite the high reputation of Sweden’s human rights record are recurring ones.
On the Universal Periodic Review
The Universal Periodic Review is a process which involves a review of the human rights records of all 192 UN Member States once every four years; 48 States are being reviewed every year.[4] The UPR is a State-driven process, under the auspices of the Human Rights Council, which provides the opportunity for each State to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to fulfill their human rights obligations. The UPR was created in March 2006 by the UNGA[5] as part of the Human Rights Council itself. It is a co-operative process which started in 2008 and by 2011 will have reviewed the human rights records of every country.[6] Germany was reviewed during the 4th session in 2009,[7] Norway during the 6th Session in 2009,[8] Finland during the 1st Session in 2008.[9],[10] The UPR is one of the key elements of the new Council which reminds States of their responsibility to fully respect and implement all human rights and fundamental freedoms. The overall aim of the UPR is to improve the human rights situation in all countries and address human rights violations wherever they occur on the basis of equal treatment for every country.