Arizona Heat: Another Reason to Question U.S. Participation in the Human Rights Council

Brett Schaefer / August 30, 2010

The fact that the Obama Administration mentioned the Arizona law involving illegal immigration and the federal government’s legal challenge in its submission to the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) for the upcoming review of America’s human rights record under the Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) has been raising eyebrows.

The UPR is a relatively new effort created by the HRC (at the instruction of the U.N. General Assembly resolution establishing the council) to review the human rights practices of all countries in the world. The UPR began in 2008 and is scheduled to examine 48 countries each year so that every country is examined once in a four-year cycle. The U.S. is up for review in November. (more…)