The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a unique tool of the UN Human Rights Council under which the human rights record of each UN member state is reviewed by their fellow member states every four and a half years. The UPR is an opportunity for states to explain what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situation in their countries and to fulfil their human rights obligations and for the international community of states to raise any concerns they have with regards to human rights in each country.
Under the UPR States can be asked rights set out in the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, human rights treaties ratified by the state concerned, voluntary pledges and commitments made by the state and applicable international humanitarian law. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), all contain articles which recognize sport as a human right. They also contain rights which are necessary for the full enjoyment of the right to sports, such as education including physical education, and rights which participation in sports can contribute to, such as health.
The below tools are designed to encourage States, National Human Right Institutions and civil society to increase their reporting the Universal Periodic Review on sports and provides guidance on how to do so.
