UN Human Rights Council to review Togo’s human rights record for third time
Togo’s human rights record will be scrutinized for the third time by the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group today.
Togo received its first and second UPR evaluations in October 2011 and October 2016, respectively.
The UPR entails periodic review of the human rights records of all UN member states. Since its inaugural meeting in April 2008, all 193 UN member states have been examined twice. During this, the third UPR cycle, states are expected to outline the efforts they have taken to implement recommendations and to highlight current human rights advances.
Togo has an extended history of quasi-dictatorship and organized repression. Given that key human rights have been persistently violated, it is unlikely the state will pass the examination. As such, Togo will likely be labelled a ‘persistent non-cooperation’ state and the Human Rights Council will begin to address it as such; though it not entirely certain at this stage what this may entail. It will not be the first time Togo has faced sanctions, the EU ceased aid in 1993 in reaction to the regime’s human rights abuses.
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