A New Kid on the Block: What Is the Universal Periodic Review, and Why Was It Established?

This chapter provides a historical account of the human rights monitoring undertaken at the predecessor to the United Nations Human Rights Council: United Nations Commission. It also provides details of the mechanics and modalities of the Universal Periodic Review process. In 1946, one of the first acts of the newly formed UN was to establish the Commission on Human Rights. Established under the auspices of Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the Commission was devised with the intention to create a body with the capacity to oversee one of the fundamental pillars of the new international legal orders under the UN Charter: the promotion and realisation of human rights. In 1967, based on the resolution 1235 (XLII) of the ECOSOC, the members of the Commission, or the Sub-Commission, could publicly mention violations of human rights that were brought to its attention through the complaints it had received.