ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a contextual background to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), undertakes a review of the UPR mechanism to outline its key features and engages with scholarly debates on the effectiveness of the UPR mechanisms. It considers four major issues: the fundamental principles of the UPR mechanism; the modus operandi of the UPR; the efficacy of the UPR mechanism; and the broad question in international law of whether membership in human rights institutions influences state compliance with human rights.
