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ABSTRACT
Botswana has gained a reputation for foreign policy independence and commitment to international human rights. Botswana’s interventions, however, have led to accusations of inconsistency and grandstanding, as well as to claims that Botswana’s vulnerability will force it to abandon its outspoken international support for human rights. This article considers these claims by studying Botswana’s record on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), the United Nations’ human rights peer review mechanism, over the period 2008 to 2016. At the UPR, African states have a reputation for lavishing undeserved praise on other states, avoiding making uncomfortable recommendations, and ignoring egregious human rights problems in states under review. This article analyses Botswana’s participation in the reviews of Western states, other African states, and non-African states with poor rights records and compares Botswana’s actions with those of other African democracies. After a weak initial performance, Botswana displayed a consistent willingness to address significant human rights problems in states under peer review. Botswana’s firm commitment to human rights at the UPR set it apart from other African states.
Acknowledgements
Eduard Jordaan would like to thank the editors and the anonymous referees for their very helpful criticism and suggestions.
Notes
1 Government of Botswana, ‘Statement on the Withdrawal of South Africa from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court’ (25 October 2016) <http://botswana-brussels.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Press-Release-Statement-on-the-Withdrawal-of-South-Africa-from-the-Rom....pdf> accessed 10 April 2017.
2 SABC, ‘SA and Botswana at Loggerheads over ICC’ (28 October 2016) <http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/3a9262804ec358528bf59b95a1c99d56/SA-and-Botswana-at-loggerheads-over-ICC-20162810> accessed 10 April 2017
3 News24, ‘Botswana Breaks Ranks over Gaddafi’ (7 June 2011) <http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Botswana-breaks-ranks-over-Gaddafi-20110706> accessed 10 April 2017.
4 African Union ‘Decision on International Jurisdiction, Justice and the International Criminal Court’ (27 May 2013), AU Doc. Assembly/AU/Dec482(XXI).
5 Independent Online, ‘Botswana critical of SA over Bashir’ (7 June 2015), <http://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/botswana-critical-of-sa-over-bashir-1872656> accessed 11 April 2017.
6 BBC, ‘African call for Zimbabwe unity’, (2 July 2008) <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7484165.stm> accessed 11 April 2017.
7 BBC, ‘Botswana shuns summit over Mugabe’ (15 August 2008) <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7564027.stm> accessed 11 April 2017.
8 Reuters, ‘Botswana faults Zimbabwe election, calls for audit’ (5 August 2013) <http://www.reuters.com/article/us-zimbabwe-election-botswana-idUSBRE9740NK20130805> accessed 11 April 2017.
9 Eyewitness News, ‘Time for Mugabe to Go, says Botswana President Khama’ (21 September 2016) <http://ewn.co.za/2016/09/21/Time-for-Mugabe-to-go-says-Botswana-President-Khama> accessed 11 April 2017.
10 Adekeye Adebajo, ‘Ending Global Apartheid: Africa and the United Nations’ in Adekeye Adebajo (ed), From Global Apartheid to Global Village: Africa and the United Nations (University of KwaZulu-Natal Press 2009).
11 ‘Botswana Defiant On Foreign Policy’ CAJ News Africa (5 July 2016) <http://cajnewsafrica.com/2016/07/05/botswana-defiant-on-foreign-policy/> accessed 11 April 2017.
12 Freedom House, ‘Freedom in the World 2016: Botswana’ <https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2016/botswana> accessed 11 April 2017.
13 In 2010, Botswana’s Freedom House score for respect for domestic political rights deteriorated from two to three, which is where it has remained since.
14 Ikenyeng Malila and Robert Molebatsi, ‘Botswana’s Experimentation with “Ethical Foreign Policy”’ (2013) 3 Southern African Peace and Security Studies 5; Dimpho Motsamai, ‘Botswana’s Foreign Policy in SADC: Business Unusual?’ (Institute for Security Studies, 2015, pp 10–13) <https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/SAReport_Issue4.pdf> accessed 11 April 2017.
15 Ibid.
16 ‘Botswana Defiant On Foreign Policy’ CAJ News Africa (5 July 2016) <http://cajnewsafrica.com/2016/07/05/botswana-defiant-on-foreign-policy/> accessed 11 April 2017.
17 Peter Fabricius, ‘Khama’s Un-Pan Africanism Irks South Africa’ (Institute for Security Studies, 17 November 2016) <https://issafrica.org/iss-today/khamas-un-pan-africanism-irks-south-africa> accessed 11 April 2017. Venson-Moitoi’s bid was unsuccessful; Moussa Faki Mahamat was elected AU Commission Chair in January 2017.
18 Ikenyeng Malila and Robert Molebatsi, ‘Botswana’s Experimentation with “Ethical Foreign Policy”’ (2013) 3 Southern African Peace and Security Studies 5.
19 Ibid.
20 Ibid.
21 UN General Assembly, ‘In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights For All’ (21 March 2005, A/59/2005).
22 Ibid.
23 Nour Dados and Raewyn Connell, ‘The Global South’ (2012) 11 Contexts 13.
24 Rosemary Foot, Rights Beyond Borders: The Global Community and the Struggle over Human Rights in China (Oxford University Press 2000).
25 UN General Assembly, ‘Human Rights Council’ (3 April 2006, A/RES/60/251).
26 In 2017, the review cycle was extended to five years.
27 UPR Info, ‘Glossary’ <https://www.upr-info.org/en/glossary> accessed 11 April 2017.
28 Subhas Guhadjur and Marc Limon, ‘Towards the Third Cycle of the UPR: Stick or Twist?’ Lessons Learnt From the First Ten Years of the Universal Periodic Review (Universal Rights Group, 2016, p 4), <https://www.universal-rights.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/URG_UPR_stick_or_twist.pdf> accessed 27 July 2018.
29 The Western Europe and Others Group’s share of the recommendations went from 40.6% in the first cycle to 30% in the second cycle; the Latin America and Caribbean Group went from 16.8 to 17%; the Asian Group from 15.6 to 19.5%; and the Eastern European Group from 14.4 to 14.2%. All figures in this footnote and in the above paragraph were derived from UPR Info’s statistical tool, UPR Info, ‘Statistics’ <www.upr-info.org/database/statistics/index.php> accessed 15 November 2018.
30 Roland Chauville, ‘The Universal Periodic Review’s First Cycle: Successes and Failures’ in Hilary Charlesworth and Emma Larking (eds), Human Rights and the Universal Periodic Review: Rituals and Ritualism (Cambridge University Press 2014).
31 Elvira Redondo, ‘The Universal Periodic Review: Is There Life Beyond Naming and Shaming in Human Rights Implementation?’ (2012) New Zealand Law Review 673. 2012(4).
32 Edward McMahon and Elissa Johnson, ‘Evolution Not Revolution: The First Two Cycles of the UN Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review Mechanism’ (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung 2016, p 18) <http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/iez/global/12806.pdf> accessed 27 July 2018.
33 Roland Chauville, ‘The Universal Periodic Review’s First Cycle: Successes and Failures’ in Hilary Charlesworth and Emma Larking (eds), Human Rights and the Universal Periodic Review: Rituals and Ritualism (Cambridge University Press 2014).
34 UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), ‘Institution-building of the United Nations Human Rights Council’ (18 June 2007, A/HRC/RES/5/1).
35 Heather Collister, ‘Rituals and Implementation in the Universal Periodic Review and the Human Rights Treaty Bodies’ in Hilary Charlesworth and Emma Larking (eds), Human Rights and the Universal Periodic Review: Rituals and Ritualism (Cambridge University Press 2014).
36 UNHRC, ‘Report of the Commission of Inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’ (7 February 2014, A/HRC/25/63).
37 Hilary Charlesworth and Emma Larking, ‘Introduction: The Regulatory Power of the Universal Periodic Review’ in Hilary Charlesworth and Emma Larking (eds), Human Rights and the Universal Periodic Review: Rituals and Ritualism (Cambridge University Press 2014).
38 Roland Chauville, ‘The Universal Periodic Review’s First Cycle: Successes and Failures’ in Hilary Charlesworth and Emma Larking (eds), Human Rights and the Universal Periodic Review: Rituals and Ritualism (Cambridge University Press 2014); Heather Collister, ‘Rituals and Implementation in the Universal Periodic Review and the Human Rights Treaty Bodies’ in Hilary Charlesworth and Emma Larking (eds), Human Rights and the Universal Periodic Review: Rituals and Ritualism (Cambridge University Press, 2014).
39 Takelo Bulto, ‘Africa’s Engagement with the Universal Periodic Review: Commitment or Capitulation?’ in Hilary Charlesworth and Emma Larking (eds), Human Rights and the Universal Periodic Review: Rituals and Ritualism (Cambridge University Press 2014).
40 Ibid.
41 International Service for Human Rights, ‘Working Group on Universal Periodic Review: Highlights 11 April 2007’ <http://olddoc.ishr.ch/hrm/council/wg/wg_reports/highlights/wgupr_highlights_11_april_07.pdf> accessed 11 April 2017.
42 International Service for Human Rights, ‘Human Rights Council: Third session, Daily update, 4 Dec 2006’.
43 International Service for Human Rights, ‘Working Group on Universal Periodic Review: Highlights 11 April 2007’ <http://olddoc.ishr.ch/hrm/council/wg/wg_reports/highlights/wgupr_highlights_11_april_07.pdf> accessed 11 April 2017.
44 Elvira Redondo, ‘The Universal Periodic Review: Is There Life Beyond Naming and Shaming in Human Rights Implementation?’ 2012(4) New Zealand Law Review 673. 2012(4).
45 Edward McMahon and Marta Ascherio, ‘A Step Ahead in Promoting Human Rights? The Universal Periodic Review of the UN Human Rights Council’ (2012) 18 Global Governance 231; Edward McMahon and Elissa Johnson, ‘Evolution Not Revolution: The First Two Cycles of the UN Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review Mechanism’ (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung 2016, p 8) <http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/iez/global/12806.pdf> accessed 27 July 2018.
46 This is also true for the Asian Group. By contrast, states from the WEOG, Eastern Europe and the Latin American and Caribbean Groups show greater engagement beyond their home regions: Edward McMahon and Marta Ascherio, ‘A Step Ahead in Promoting Human Rights? The Universal Periodic Review of the UN Human Rights Council’ (2012) 18 Global Governance 231.
47 Takelo Bulto, ‘Africa’s Engagement with the Universal Periodic Review: Commitment or Capitulation?’ in Hilary Charlesworth and Emma Larking (eds), Human Rights and the Universal Periodic Review: Rituals and Ritualism (Cambridge University Press 2014).
48 Sarah Joseph, ‘Global Media Coverage of the Universal Periodic Review Process’ in Hilary Charlesworth and Emma Larking (eds), Human Rights and the Universal Periodic Review: Rituals and Ritualism (Cambridge University Press 2014).
49 Ikenyeng Malila and Robert Molebatsi, ‘Botswana’s Experimentation with “Ethical Foreign Policy”’ (2013) 3 Southern African Peace and Security Studies 5.
50 Bernhard Boockmann and Axel Dreher, ‘Do Human Rights Offenders Oppose Human Rights Resolutions in the United Nations?’ (2011) 146 Public Choice 443.
51 Simon Hug and Richard Lukács, ‘Preference or Blocs? Voting in the UN Human Rights Council’ (2014) 9 Review of International Organization 83.
52 Charles Kupchan, No One’s World: The West, the Rising Rest, and the Coming Global Turn (Oxford University Press 2012).
53 John Ikenberry ‘The Future of the Liberal World Order’ (2015) 16 Japanese Journal of Political Science 450.
54 Defined as those with a score of four or higher in Freedom House’s categorisation at the time of review.
55 Ikenyeng Malila and Robert Molebatsi, ‘Botswana’s Experimentation with “Ethical Foreign Policy”’ (2013) 3 Southern African Peace and Security Studies 5
56 Kathryn Sikkink, ‘The Power of Principled Ideas: Human Rights Policies in the United States and Western Europe’ in Robert Keohane and Judith Goldstein (eds), Ideas and Foreign Policy: Beliefs, Institutions, and Political Change (Cornell University Press 1993).
57 These states are Benin, Cape Verde, Ghana, Lesotho (until 2009 and between 2012 and 2014), Mauritius, Mali (until 2011), Namibia, Sao Tome, Senegal (2012 and after), Sierra Leone (2012 only), South Africa, Tunisia (2014 and after). These categorisations are based on Freedom House’s various Freedom in the World reports, with the year of the report referring to the situation in the country the year before.
58 Heather Collister, ‘Rituals and Implementation in the Universal Periodic Review and the Human Rights Treaty Bodies’ in Hilary Charlesworth and Emma Larking (eds), Human Rights and the Universal Periodic Review: Rituals and Ritualism (Cambridge University Press 2014).
59 Walter Kälin, ‘Ritual and Ritualism at the Universal Periodic Review: A Preliminary Appraisal’ in Hilary Charlesworth and Emma Larking (eds), Human Rights and the Universal Periodic Review: Rituals and Ritualism (Cambridge University Press 2014).
60 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Central African Republic’ (29 October 2013, A/HRC/WG6/17/L9).
61 During the first two cycles of the UPR, recommendations that were not directed at the state under review had an acceptance rate of above 90%. By contrast, recommendations to the state under review to perform a concrete, specific and verifiable action were accepted less than 60% of the time: Edward McMahon and Elissa Johnson, ‘Evolution Not Revolution: The First Two Cycles of the UN Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review Mechanism’ (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung 2016, p 10) <http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/iez/global/12806.pdf> accessed 20 November 2018.
62 Edward McMahon and Elissa Johnson, ‘Evolution Not Revolution: The First Two Cycles of the UN Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review Mechanism’ (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung 2016, p 7) <http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/iez/global/12806.pdf> accessed 27 July 2018.
63 Ibid. 8
64 Rosemary Foot, Rights Beyond Borders: The Global Community and the Struggle over Human Rights in China (Oxford University Press 2000). In this regard, McMahon and Ascherio find that recommendations on social and economically oriented rights are associated with softer action: Edward McMahon and Marta Ascherio, ‘A Step Ahead in Promoting Human Rights? The Universal Periodic Review of the UN Human Rights Council’ (2012) 18 Global Governance 231.
65 Rhona Smith, ‘A Review of African States in the First Cycle of the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review’ (2014) 14 African Human Rights Law Journal 346.
66 World Justice Project, Rule of Law Index 2016, <https://worldjusticeproject.org/sites/default/files/documents/RoLI_Final-Digital_0.pdf> accessed 11 April 2017.
67 Calculated as having a Freedom House ‘freedom rating’ of 4 or higher, with 7 indicating the least free, 1 the most free.
68 Singapore (dates of review: 6 May 2011 and 27 January 2016), Sri Lanka (1 November 2012), China (22 October 2014), Malaysia (24 October 2013), Yemen (29 January 2014), North Korea (1 May 2014), Iraq (3 November 2014), Kuwait (28 January 2015), Maldives (6 May 2015), Belarus (4 May 2015), Myanmar (6 November 2015), Thailand (11 May 2016), and Haiti (7 November 2016).
69 For example, UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Kuwait (30 January 2015, A/HRC/WG6/21/L14); UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Maldives’ (21 May 2015, A/HRC/WG6/22/L6).
70 For example, UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Sri Lanka’ (1 November 2012, A/HRC/WG6/14/L14); UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Thailand (19 May 2016, A/HRC/WG6/25/L13).
71 For example, UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Yemen’ (31 January 2014, A/HRC/WG6/18/L6); UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Iraq (5 November 2014, A/HRC/WG6/20/L12).
72 UNHRC, ‘Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Singapore (11 July 2011, A/HRC/18/11).
73 Freedom House, ‘Freedom in the World Report 2012: Singapore’ (2013) <https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2012/singapore> accessed 12 April 2017.
74 Freedom House, ‘Freedom in the World 2016: Haiti’ (2017) <https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2016/haiti> accessed 12 April 2017.
75 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Haiti’ (16 November 2016, A/HRC/WG6/26/L10).
76 Rosemary Foot, Rights Beyond Borders: The Global Community and the Struggle over Human Rights in China (Oxford University Press 2000); Simon Denyer, ‘Look Who’s Talking – And Who’s Not: Western Nations Choose Words Carefully On China Human Rights’ Washington Post (14 December 2015) <https://www.google.co.za/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjT28281J7TAhXjDMAKHY2oAEIQFggaMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fnews%2Fworldviews%2Fwp%2F2015%2F12%2F14%2Flook-whos-talking-and-whos-not-western-nations-chose-words-carefully-on-china-human-rights%2F&usg=AFQjCNFVpJOqUXDnMztSbidkL0ZBSxMc5A&sig2=w6xz4tRfPQeeXBrTpEASxg> accessed 12 April 2017.
77 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: China’ 24 October 2013, A/HRC/WG6/17/L3).
78 Ibid.
79 Ibid.
80 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Sri Lanka’ (1 November 2012, A/HRC/WG6/14/L14).
81 Ibid.
82 Ibid.
83 Ibid.
84 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Malaysia (28 October 2013, A/HRC/WG6/17/L8).
85 Ibid.
86 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Yemen’ (31 January 2014, A/HRC/WG6/18/L6).
87 Ibid.
88 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’ (5 May 2014, A/HRC/WG6/19/L8).
89 Ibid.
90 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Iraq (5 November 2014, A/HRC/WG6/20/L12).
91 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Kuwait (30 January 2015, A/HRC/WG6/21/L14).
92 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Maldives’ (21 May 2015, A/HRC/WG6/22/L6).
93 Government of Botswana, ‘Statement to the UNHRC’ (4 May 2015), <http://webtv.un.org/search/belarus-review-22nd-session-of-universal-periodic-review/4214668882001?term=botswana&languages=&sort=date#full-text>, accessed 16 May 2017.
94 Government of Ghana, ‘Statement to the UNHRC’ (4 May 2015) <http://webtv.un.org/search/belarus-review-22nd-session-of-universal-periodic-review/4214668882001?term=botswana&languages=&sort=date#full-text>, accessed 16 May 2017.
95 UNHRC, ‘Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Myanmar (21 November 2015, A/HRC/31/13).
96 Ibid.
97 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Singapore’ (4 February 2016, A/HRC/WG6/24/L14).
98 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Thailand (19 May 2016, A/HRC/WG6/25/L13).
99 Ibid.
100 Sweden (7 May 2010), Austria (26 January 2011), Australia (27 January 2011) and Greece (9 May 2011).
101 Switzerland (29 October 2012), Italy (27 October 2014), Norway (28 April 2014), Sweden (26 January 2015), Austria (9 November 2015), Australia (9 November 2015), Belgium (20 January 2016), Denmark (21 January 2016), Greece (3 May 2016) and Ireland (11 May 2016).
102 Eduard Jordaan, ‘South Africa and the United Nations Human Rights Council’ (2014) 36 Human Rights Quarterly 90; Eduard Jordaan, ‘South Africa and Abusive Regimes at the United Nations Human Rights Council’ (2014) 20 Global Governance 233.
103 UNHRC, ‘From Rhetoric to Reality’ (28 September 2007, A/HRC/RES/6/22).
104 On the politics of the Durban process, see Dimitrina Petrova, ‘“Smoke and Mirrors”: The Durban Review Conference and Human Rights Politics at the United Nations’ (2010) 10 Human Rights Law Review, p.129.
105 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Sweden’ (14 May 2010, A/HRC/WG6/8/L10).
106 Ibid.
107 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Austria’ (2 February 2011, A/HRC/WG6/10/L6).
108 Ibid.
109 Ibid.
110 UNHRC, Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Australia (3 February 2011, A/HRC/WG6/10/L8).
111 Ibid.
112 Italy and Ireland were the two exceptions.
113 South Africa (15 April 2008), Zambia (9 May 2008), Cameroon (5 February 2009), Senegal (6 February 2009), Nigeria (9 February 2009), Mauritius (10 February 2009), Angola (12 February 2010), Lesotho (5 May 2010), Kenya (6 May 2010), Rwanda (24 January 2011), Namibia (31 January 2011), Mozambique (1 February 2011) and Swaziland (4 October 2011).
114 Benin (25 October 2012), Burkina Faso (22 April 2013), Senegal (21 October 2013), Nigeria (22 October 2013), Central African Republic (25 October 2013), Chad (29 October 2013), Congo (30 October 2013), Mauritius (1 November 2013), Comoros (31 January 2014), Eritrea (3 February 2014), Cote d’Ivoire (29 April 2014), Democratic Republic of the Congo (29 April 2014), Equatorial Guinea (5 May 2014), Ethiopia (6 May 2014), Gambia (28 October 2014), Angola (29 October 2014), Madagascar (3 November 2014), Egypt (5 November 2014), Guinea (20 January 2015), Lesotho (21 January 2015), Kenya (22 January 2015), Guinea-Bissau (23 January 2015), Liberia (4 May 2015), Malawi (5 May 2015), Mauritania (3 November 2015), Rwanda (4 November 2015), Namibia (18 January 2016), Niger (18 January 2016), Mozambique (19 January 2016), Somalia (22 January 2016), Seychelles (25 January 2016), Sierra Leone (27 January 2016), Sudan (4 May 2016), Tanzania (9 May 2016), Swaziland (10 May 2016), Zimbabwe (2 November 2016), Uganda (3 November 2016), South Sudan (7 November 2016) and Togo (31 November 2016).
115 Transparency International’s 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index report ranked Angola 168th out of 182 states.
116 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Angola’ (16 February 2010, A/HRC/WG6/7/L10).
117 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Mozambique’ (7 February 2011, A/HRC/WG6/10/L14).
118 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Cameroon’ (9 February 2009, A/HRC/WG6/4/L7).
119 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Kenya’ (10 May 2010, A/HRC/WG6/8/L7).
120 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Swaziland’ (6 October 2011, A/HRC/WG6/12/L4).
121 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Zambia’ (19 May 2008, A/HRC/WG6/2/L9).
122 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Cameroon’ (9 February 2009, A/HRC/WG6/4/L7).
123 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Congo’ (1 November 2013, A/HRC/WG6/17/L14).
124 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Chad’ (31 October 2013, A/HRC/WG6/17/L12).
125 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Eritrea’ (5 February 2014, A/HRC/WG6/18/L11).
126 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Ethiopia’ (8 May 2014, A/HRC/WG6/19/L12).
127 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Equatorial Guinea’ (7 May 2014, A/HRC/WG6/19/L11).
128 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Democratic Republic of the Congo’ (3 May 2014, A/HRC/WG6/19/L3).
129 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Egypt’ (7 November 2014, A/HRC/WG6/20/L13).
130 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Madagascar’ (5 November 2014, A/HRC/WG6/20/L11).
131 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Kenya’ (26 January 2015, A/HRC/WG6/21/L6).
132 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Guinea’ (22 January 2015, A/HRC/WG6/21/L3).
133 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Malawi’ (7 May 2015, A/HRC/WG6/22/L1).
134 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Sierra Leone’ (16 November 2016, A/HRC/WG6/24/L13).
135 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Seychelles’ (16 November 2016, A/HRC/WG6/24/L10).
136 UNHRC, ‘Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Namibia’ (15 April 2016, A/HRC/32/4).
137 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Niger’ (1 February 2016, A/HRC/WG6/24/L2).
138 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Sudan’ (19 May 2016, A/HRC/WG6/25/L5).
139 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: South Sudan’ (15 November 2016, A/HRC/WG6/26/L11).
140 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Uganda’ (16 November 2016, A/HRC/WG6/26/L7).
141 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Madagascar’ (5 November 2014, A/HRC/WG6/20/L11); UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Malawi’ (7 May 2015, A/HRC/WG6/22/L1).
142 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Guinea’ (22 January 2015, A/HRC/WG6/21/L3); UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Niger’ (1 February 2016, A/HRC/WG6/24/L2).
143 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: South Sudan’ (15 November 2016, A/HRC/WG6/26/L11).
144 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Uganda’ (16 November 2016, A/HRC/WG6/26/L7).
145 Takelo Bulto, ‘Africa’s Engagement with the Universal Periodic Review: Commitment or Capitulation?’ in Hilary Charlesworth and Emma Larking (eds), Human Rights and the Universal Periodic Review: Rituals and Ritualism (Cambridge University Press 2014).
146 UNHRC, ‘Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Kenya’ (10 May 2010, A/HRC/WG6/8/L7).
147 Sarah Joseph, ‘Global Media Coverage of the Universal Periodic Review Process’ in Hilary Charlesworth and Emma Larking (eds), Human Rights and the Universal Periodic Review: Rituals and Ritualism (Cambridge University Press 2014).
148 Hilary Charlesworth and Emma Larking, ‘Introduction: The Regulatory Power of the Universal Periodic Review’ in Hilary Charlesworth and Emma Larking (eds), Human Rights and the Universal Periodic Review: Rituals and Ritualism (Cambridge University Press, 2014).
149 Allehone Abebe, ‘Of Shaming and Bargaining: African States and the Universal Periodic Review of the United Nations Human Rights Council’ (2009) 9 Human Rights Law Review 1; Takelo Bulto, ‘Africa’s Engagement with the Universal Periodic Review: Commitment or Capitulation?’ in Hilary Charlesworth and Emma Larking (eds), Human Rights and the Universal Periodic Review: Rituals and Ritualism (Cambridge University Press 2014); Rhona Smith, ‘A Review of African States in the First Cycle of the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review’ (2014) 14 African Human Rights Law Journal 346.
150 Bertrand Ramcharan, The UN Human Rights Council (Routledge 2011).
151 Ted Piccone, ‘Assessing the United Nations Human Rights Council’, 25 May 2017, Brookings <https://www.brookings.edu/testimonies/assessing-the-united-nations-human-rights-council/> accessed 1 August 2018.
152 Eduard Jordaan, ‘The African Group on the UN Human Rights Council: Shifting Geopolitics and the Liberal International Order’ (2016) African Affairs 115(460).
153 Sarah Snyder, ‘Is the Trump Administration Abandoning Human Rights?’ Washington Post (2 July 2017) <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2017/07/02/is-the-trump-administration-abandoning-human-rights/?utm_term=.c80c4bd6c87e> accessed 14 November 2018.
154 The US withdrew from the Human Rights Council on 19 June 2018, calling the organisation ‘ … a cesspool of political bias’: BBC, ‘US Quits “Biased” UN Human Rights Council’ (20 June 2018) <https://www.bbc.com/news/44537372> accessed 14 November 2018.
155 UNHRC, ‘Mission by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to Improve the Human Rights Situation and Accountability in Burundi’ (4 October 2017, A/HRC/RES/36/2).
156 UNHRC, ‘Renewal of the Mandate of the Commission of Inquiry on Burundi’ (4 October 2017, A/HRC/RES/36/19). For further analysis of the two Burundi resolutions, see International Service for Human Rights, ‘Commission of inquiry renewed, but human rights scrutiny on a razor’s edge’, 29 September 2017 <https://www.ishr.ch/news/burundi-commission-inquiry-renewed-human-rights-scrutiny-razors-edge> accessed 1 August 2018.
157 For this argument, see Bernhard Boockmann and Axel Dreher, ‘Do Human Rights Offenders Oppose Human Rights Resolutions in the United Nations?’ (2011) 146 Public Choice 443.
158 In their empirical study, Hug and Lukács found that democracy and domestic human rights are influential: see Simon Hug and Richard Lukács, ‘Preference or Blocs? Voting in the UN Human Rights Council’ (2014) 9 Review of International Organization 83.
159 Steven Seligman, ‘Politics and Principle at the UN Human Rights Commission and Council, 1992–2008’ (2011) 17 Israel Affairs 520; Rob Jenkins and Emma Mawdsley, ‘Democratic Emerging Powers and the International Human Rights System’ (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, August 2013) <http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/iez/global/10202.pdf> accessed 16 May 2017; Eduard Jordaan, ‘Rising Powers and Human Rights: The India-Brazil-South Africa Dialogue Forum at the UN Human Rights Council’ (2014) 14 Journal of Human Rights 463.