CIVICUS makes interventions for the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR), which scrutinizes each country's human rights record every four years. For the 17th session of the UPR, CIVICUS has examined the freedoms of expression, association and assembly in China, Jordan, Mexico and Nigeria. In the run-up to each country's review in October 2013, CIVICUS’ submissions to the UPR working group outline concerns relating to the environment in which civil society organisation and human rights defenders operate in, and discusses the threats they face.
In China, CIVICUS is concerned by the highly discriminatory registration requirements for civil society groups and the limitations on civil society organizations’ contact with international groups and access to foreign funding. In Jordan, CIVICUS’s joint submission with the Amman Centre for Human Rights Studies examines the worrying crackdown on news websites and reports that protesters have been tortured in detention. In Mexico, CIVICUS gravely notes the setbacks experienced by labour unions since 2009 and the rise in acts of violence and intimidation committed by state and non-stake actors against civil society members and staff of Civil Society Organisations. In Nigeria, CIVICUS analyses the Government attacks and attacks from militant groups on journalists and civil society actors.