08/02/2017

News from our Regional offices

Geneva, Switzerland, 8 February 2017 – UPR Info opened two regional offices in 2015, one for Africa (in June) and another one for Asia (in May). Due to organisational and internal restructuring it was decided to close the UPR Info Asia office in December 2016. UPR Info Africa is officially registered in Kenya.

In Asia, UPR Info Asia carried out successful activities in Nepal, Mongolia, Myanmar, and Thailand and demonstrated the opportunities offered by the UPR to all. In Thailand, the intensive work with human rights defenders and people at the grassroots level has led to the creation of the Thai CSO’s Coalition for the UPR. Having met many objectives and for internal organisational reasons, it was decided to close the UPR Info Asia office in December 2016. We will actively continue our support for activists in Asia, including from Geneva. We will notably be working with our partners in Sri Lanka, India and Nepal to enhance their skills and knowledge of the UPR. We have learnt valuable lessons from the collaborations with Thai and Burmese CSOs to develop a strategy for engagement with their government and foreign governments as well. At UPR Info, we are proud of the outcomes, although it may take years to see the final results. Many new opportunities have arisen for our organisation and we intend to follow up on them.

On another note, we are pleased to announce that our Africa Regional Office was finally officially registered in Kenya. We warmly thank our partners who provided key support during the registration process and look forward to increasing our presence in the African continent!