Unpacking the Relationship between State and NGO Recommendations in the UPR Process: Potential for Influence or Alignment?

Citation

Etone D & Vasilliades E (2025) Unpacking the Relationship between State and NGO Recommendations in the UPR Process: Potential for Influence or Alignment?. African Journal of International and Comparative Law.

Abstract
There’s been a significant amount of scholarly works examining the role of NGOs in various international human rights mechanisms including the treaty bodies, and to a limited extent the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR). What is yet to be examined in the scholarly literature is the extent to which human rights concerns and recommendations raised by NGOs in their UPR report aligns with the state recommendations. Questions have been asked whether NGO recommendations matter in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process. This is an important question considering the UPR does not require states to respond directly to NGO recommendations but recommendations from other states. The extent to which State UPR recommendations align with NGO recommendations is a strong indication of the relevance of State UPR recommendations and the ability of states to prioritise the major human rights concerns within states raised in NGO reports. With a focus on Kenya and Zambia, this paper examines the extent to which UPR recommendations made by NGOs in Kenya and Zambia correlate with state UPR recommendations. We found the existence of alignment between NGO and state recommendations but the strength of this alignment, both in terms of thematic issues and quality of recommendations, is influenced by the nature of NGO advocacy/lobbying strategies and the existence of a well-organised national NGO UPR coalition. Understanding the areas of convergence and divergence between State and NGO recommendations in the UPR process and the underlying contributing reasons can help to ultimately enhance the impact of the UPR on domestic human rights. Considering that states can only respond to peer recommendations in the UPR process, it is important to examine the relationship between state and NGO recommendations to determine whether in fact state recommendations in the UPR process align with recommendations NGOs on the ground prioritise and are of the same quality. In response to the question whether NGO recommendations matter in the UPR process, our paper answers in the affirmative.