This year, as in past years, PBI is providing support to accompanied defenders in Honduras, Nicaragua, and Kenya as they work to highlight the human rights concerns in their countries through the UPR process and at the 60th Session of the Human Rights Council and the 80th Session of the UN General Assembly.
The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a mechanism of the UN Human Rights Council that calls for each UN Member State to undergo a peer review of its human rights records every 4.5 years.
In addition, human rights defenders will travel to Canada to this fall to raise awareness about the need for a strengthened protection mechanism for human rights defenders in Mexico who are too often resisting rights violations caused by the operations of Canadian-based companies or their subsidiaries.
Read below to learn more.
Honduras
On November 7, 2025, during the 50th session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group in Geneva, Honduras will undergo the fourth cycle of review of the human rights situation in the country and will receive human rights recommendations from the various Member States of the United Nations (UN).
In the 2020 UPR, Honduras received 223 recommendations, 203 of which it accepted and 20 of which it noted. Of the total number of recommendations, 151 were specifically directed to the protection and promotion of the rights of LGBTIQ+ persons. All of these were accepted by Honduras, with the exception of one recommendation on the approval of equal marriage, which it noted.
In a recently released report, the Sexual Diversity Committee of Honduras (CDSH) and Peace Brigades International (PBI) worked together to evaluate the implementation of the 2020 UPR recommendations and shed light on the violence faced by LGBTIQ+ people in Honduras due to the absence of laws and measures to ensure comprehensive protections.
During this process, CDSH and PBI noted with concern that over the past 5 years the State of Honduras has not complied with any of the 15 LGBTIQ+ recommendations received in the 2020 UPR. Therefore, it is critical that UN Member States continue to remind Honduras of its responsibility to comply with the recommendations.
Furthermore, looking ahead to the 2025 UPR, it is equally important that more concrete measures are recommended so that the State of Honduras can move forward in the realization of human rights for LGBTIQ+ persons.
Nicaragua
The UPR review of Nicaragua occurred in November 2024.
On March 26, 2025, the final report of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Nicaragua was scheduled to be adopted at the 58th session of the Human Rights Council. However, this adoption could not take place, as Nicaragua did not send the report, nor did it attend the session.
The 46/2 Collective, of which PBI is a member, released a statement calling on UN Member States to:
- maintain constant scrutiny of the situation in Nicaragua
- strengthen communication and support for individuals, collectives, communities and civil society organizations defending human rights in the country
- the activation of all available international and diplomatic mechanisms to hold the Nicaraguan state accountable and
- that any trade and financial relations with Nicaragua be conditional on strict compliance with its obligations on human rights and access to justice.
The 46/2 Collective is a coalition of 19 international, regional and Nicaraguan human rights organizations that regularly informs the international community about the lack of action by the Nicaraguan regime to meet its international human rights obligations. The following is a list of the member organizations of the Collective:
- Centre for Civil and Political Rights (CCPR-Centre)
- Centro por la Justicia y el Derecho Internacional (CEJIL)
- Colectivo de Derechos Humanos Nicaragua Nunca Más
- International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
- International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
- Movimiento Autonómo de Mujeres (MAM)
- World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
- Peace Brigades International (PBI) * Red Internacional de Derechos Humanos Europa (RIDHE)
- Unidad de Defensa Jurídica (UDJ)
- Urnas Abiertas (UA)
The 60th Session of the Human Rights Council, which is taking place from September 8 - October 8, 2025 in Geneva, Switzerland, will include a report from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the human rights situation in Nicaragua with an interactive dialogue session, during which PBI will have a space for a defender to speak, an oral update from the Group of Experts on Nicaragua will be shared, and PBI will co-sponsor a side event with partner organizations for further discussion on the situation for human rights defenders in Nicaragua.
The Group of Experts on Human Rights in Nicaragua will also present a report to the UN General Assembly for the first time in October 2025 in New York City. PBI will co-sponsor a side event in NYC as well with the 46/2 Collective. More details will be shared on the event as they are finalized.
Kenya
The human rights record of Kenya was examined by the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group for the fourth time on May 1, 2025, in a meeting in Geneva.
In the lead up to Kenya’s UPR session, PBI Kenya engaged with permanent missions to push for strong recommendations. PBI Kenya held strategic meetings with permanent missions (Norway, Belgium, U.S., Czech Republic) & EU states, advocating for freedom of assembly, protection of HRDs, and women’s rights. PBI Kenya also met with the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances, pushing for justice for victims.
In February 2025, Kenya underwent its fourth UPR cycle, where member states evaluated its progress, raised concerns, and provided recommendations to advance human rights.
PBI Kenya actively engaged in this process, submitting key recommendations during the UPR pre-session to highlight critical human rights issues. From February 16-22, 2025, PBI Kenya participated in a speaker tour in Switzerland, focusing on the UPR process. As part of the coalition drafting UPR reports, PBI’s team in Kenya advocated for stronger human rights commitments and joined a UPR workshop, presenting key recommendations.
PBI’s advocacy contributed to meaningful outcomes—during the 49th UPR Working Group session in May 2025, 23 countries recommended that Kenya ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances, a priority the PBI team had emphasized.
This milestone reflects the impact of civil society engagement in shaping human rights accountability. PBI Kenya remains committed to advocating for justice and protection for human rights defenders in Kenya and beyond.
Mexico
During Mexico’s review at the January 24, 2024 session of the United Nations (UN) Universal Periodic Review (UPR), Canada recommended that Mexico: “Strengthen, from an intersectional and gender perspective, the federal Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, specifically in the areas of prevention, protection, investigation, and reparation.”
Two human rights defenders from Mexico will be in Ottawa at the end of September 2025 to meet with Government of Canada officials, Members of Parliament, social movement and civil society allies, to raise awareness of the situation of human rights defenders and journalists in Mexico and ways the international community can continue to support calls for the protection mechanism for human rights defenders in Mexico to be strengthened. Read more here.
United States
While the human rights situation continues to deteriorate in the U.S., the Trump Administration has announced that the U.S. will not participate in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process.
According to Human Rights First, only two states have refused to participate in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR): the United States and Israel as of September 2025, although Nicaragua has yet to submit its final report in relation to their 2024 review & announced in February 2025 that it would be withdrawing from the Human Rights Council, following a UN report that called upon the international community to address human rights violations by the government under President Daniel Ortega’s leadership.
On August 28, 2025, the U.S. announced it would not participate in its upcoming November 2025 review. This marks the first time the U.S. has refused to participate since the UPR’s inception in 2006. The decision was made following an executive order to disengage from the UN Human Rights Council. The U.S. government cited a perceived failure of the Council to condemn certain human rights violators and a lack of accountability.
In January 2013, Israel became the first country to refuse to participate in its UPR. However, Israel later resumed its participation in the review process and has participated in subsequent cycles in 2013, 2018, and 2023.
Despite the withdrawal by the United States and Israel’s past refusal, the UPR has maintained a near-universal participation record, with all 193 UN member states having participated in the process at some point since 2006.