Source: Jubilee Campaign, October 28, 2026
Editor’s Note: When the Jubilee Campaign does a report for the UN, they make it available on their website, and wow, are these reports thorough. Lots of fuel for those who like to pray very specifically.
The Universal Periodic Review
The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a mechanism of the Human Rights Council that involves a comprehensive review of the human rights records of all 193 UN member states. Due to the intensive evaluation process and the vast number of UN member states, each nation is reviewed only every 4.5 years, and within the 16 years since the inauguration of the UPR in 2008, each country has been assessed just three times.
NGOs play a crucial role in the UPR process by submitting stakeholder reports that provide additional information and perspectives on a state’s human rights performance. This supplementary input is even more valuable in cases where a reviewed UN member state does not fully comply with its obligations, either by delaying [submitting] national reports for years on end or providing incomplete reports.
Following a UN member state’s review cycle, the UPR Working Group publishes an outcome report listing recommendations to the analyzed nation. The UPR is unique in that it allows each Human Rights Council member state—all 47 of which are part of the UPR Working Group—to directly address its counterparts and provide highly specific recommendations.
See the list of reviews and read the latest report, focused on Syria. Syria has fallen off the radar with so much happening elsewhere, but for some reason God has put it on my heart.
See also Open Doors World Watch List page on Syria. This year, Syria moved up the list from #18 to #6.