UN Human rights council moves the ball forward on refugee rights in Thailand, Tanzania
Published: 1 Jul 2016
Press release from Asylum Access, originally published on 24 May 2016. Asylum Access is an international human rights non-profit organisation providing individualised legal counsel and/or representation, community legal empowerment, policy advocacy, strategic litigation and movement-building in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Asylum Access, in coalition with nine local civil society organisations, has submitted two reports detailing the situation of refugees in Tanzania and Thailand in advance of their Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the United Nations (UN) in Geneva. The reports highlighted, among other challenges, barriers to accessing work permits and freedom of movement in Tanzania as well as the use of arbitrary detention and the threat of refoulement in Thailand.
During the UPR on 9-11 May 2016, states from around the world called on the governments of Thailand and Tanzania to better uphold the human rights of refugees. Following Thailand’s UPR, the government promised to improve access to health, education and social welfare for refugees, including the over 9,000 refugees who live outside of camps without legal status. The Thai government also committed to addressing harsh living conditions in immigration detention centres. The pledges will be evaluated by the UN Human Rights Council as part of Thailand’s next UPR in 2021.
During Tanzania’s review, Canada called on the government to ensure refugees have access to work and freedom of movement. The recommendation marked the first time that the human rights of refugees were explicitly included as part of Tanzania’s UPR. Asylum Access was the only non-governmental organisation to submit information to the UPR on the human rights of refugees in Tanzania.
Greater attention to the human rights of refugees comes at a crucial time in history, as the global refugee population climbs higher than anytime since World War Two and appeals for funding by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) remain unmet.
The UPR is a mechanism by which the UN Human Rights Council examines each of the 193 UN Member States’ human rights records. Each country is reviewed every four-and-a-half years and, as part of the examination, other UN Member States can pose questions and make recommendations to the state under review. NGOs can inform the discussion by submitting reports to the UN detailing the human rights conditions in a particular country. In future sessions, states are expected to report back on what they have done to implement previously raised recommendations.
The UPR is an effective tool to protect and promote human rights worldwide. A study from 2014 shows that nearly 50 percent of UPR recommendations were either partially or fully implemented within two-and-a-half years of being raised. Since the UPR process first began in 2008, recommendations concerning refugees and asylum seekers were made over 700 times by roughly 116 different States.
As Jessica Therkelsen, Global Policy Director at Asylum Access, notes, “the UPR mechanism is crucial for ensuring that states protect the rights of refugees alongside citizens and others within their borders. These recommendations give refugee rights advocates clear goals for engaging governments over the next four years.”