ACLU at the U.S. Universal Periodic Review, 22nd Session of the U.N. Human Rights Council Working Group on the UPR, May 2015

On May 11, 2015, the United States went before the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva to defend its domestic human rights record as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). Below are recommendations issued to the U.S. by the UN Working Group on the UPR following the review, divided by issue areas. The Obama administration has until September 2015 to respond to the Working Group’s 348 recommendations.

1. Recommendations on Criminal Justice
2. Recommendations on Gender Equality, Reproductive Rights & LGBT Rights
3. Recommendations on Immigration and Migrants’ Rights
4. Recommendations on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights
5. Recommendations on National Security
6. Recommendations on Racial Justice
7. Recommendations on Socio-Economic Rights
8. Recommendations on Treaty Ratification and Establishment of NHRI

In preparation for this review, the ACLU shared summary recommendations on the following issues:

1. Accountability for Torture
2. Access to Justice for Guantánamo Detainees
3. The Death Penalty
4. The Excessive Militarization of American Policing
5. Immigrant Family Detention in the United States
6. U.S. Failure to Return Personal Belongings of Migrant Deportees
7. The United States Targeted Killings Program
8. Human Rights and National Security Surveillance

In September 2014, the ACLU submitted a report to the Council, highlighting issue areas where the U.S. is failing to meet its international human rights commitments.

National Security

• Access to Justice for Guantánamo Detainees
• Access to Justice for Victims of Torture

Race and LGBT Discrimination

• Racial Disparities in Sentencing
• Racial Profiling
• Anti-LGBT Discrimination

Immigrants’ Rights

• Unaccompanied Immigrant Children and Families
• Access to Justice in Immigration Proceedings