English PEN and ARTICLE 19 have made a joint submission to the to the third cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the United Kingdom. UPR is a United Nations process whereby the human rights records of all countries are ‘peer reviewed’ on a four year cycle. The United Kingdom will be reviewed for the third time in May 2017.
Read the English PEN and ARTICLE 19 submission
The joint submission for the 2017 UPR focuses on freedom of expression in the United Kingdom, and addresses the following areas of concern:
- Surveillance and Investigatory Powers Bill
- Proposed Legislation on ‘Extremism’
- Defamation Law
- Media Regulation
- Social Media Prosecutions
- Freedom of Information
- Freedom of Peaceful Assembly
- Freedom of Association
- The Human Rights Act
More information about the UPR process and previous reviews of the UK are available on the UPR-info.org website. English PEN submitted to the second review in 2012, and also to the United Nations Human Rights Council review of the
Working with our colleagues at PEN International and other NGOs, English PEN has previously contributed to submissions to the UPR of other countries where we have campaigned for the freedom of expression rights of writers. Visit the UPR tag on our website to learn more.