The 48th session of the Universal Periodic Review was held from 20 January 2025 to 31 January 2025. 13 Countries were reviewed during the session: Italy, El Salvador, the Gambia, Bolivia, Fiji, San Marino, Kazakhstan, Angola, Iran, Madagascar, Iraq, Slovenia, Egypt, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In collaboration with our partners, the SRI submitted reports for Angola, Bolivia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The UPR outcome for each State reviewed during UPR 48 was adopted at the 59th session of the HRC in June 2025. The outcome report indicates which recommendations the State agrees to implement and its responses to other recommendations.
The adoption of the outcome is the only opportunity for civil society to make an oral statement during the official UPR process. The SRI, in collaboration with partners and allies, will work to ensure that sexual and reproductive rights are visible during this segment of the UPR process.
The intervening period is an opportunity to engage in dialogue with States on accepting relevant recommendations – and, at the same time, not accepting those recommendations that are inconsistent with human rights norms and standards. It is also a means for gaining the support of the media and the general public.
Sexual Rights-Related Highlights
Below are some sexual rights-related highlights from each UPR 48 review. Click here for the full list of recommendations made related to sexual rights, including State responses at the end of the review. You will note that the recommendations for Egypt and Iraq are still tagged as deferred in the excel sheet - please note that this is not because these countries did not complete the adoption process, rather it is due to the lag in the translation of their addendums which are currently only available in Arabic. To access the currently available UPR documents for these countries (and indeed any of the countries) visit the OHCHR’s UPR documentation by country page.
This session, the emphasis that we noted in the last session on labour rights and labour exploitation, and economic and social rights more broadly, continued. Additionally, this session included a recommendation focused on surrogacy, which doesn’t often come up - it remains to be seen whether it will emerge as a key area of engagement for recommending states in the coming sessions.
Italy
Accepted
- Take measures to effectively address labour exploitation affecting undocumented persons working for low wages and in precarious conditions (Austria);
- Intensify the fight against the new scourge of child trafficking through commercial surrogacy, which is an affront to human dignity (Argentina);
Noted
- Ensure the full legal recognition of same-sex couples and their families including marriage, adoption rights and parental recognition (Iceland);
- Ensure that the principle of non-refoulement is upheld for all women and girls in need of international protection and that no asylum-seeker or migrant is expelled from the country without an individual risk assessment (Afghanistan).
El Salvador
Accepted
- Promote the creation of a labor inspection mechanism for the purposes of reporting and preventing all types of labor exploitation, paying special attention to the situation of women, migrant workers and other vulnerable groups (Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of));
- Take measures to promote and increase women's participation in the labour market, including at all levels of public administration, and close the gender pay gap, including through measures that address the social and cultural factors that deter women from pursuing their professional careers (Costa Rica);
- Continue to implement national programmes for the protection and promotion of the rights of women and girls, and procedures for the protection and promotion of the rights of children, including newborns (Egypt).
Noted
- Adopt immediate measures to provide sexual and reproductive health rights for women in El Salvador, including through repealing the total prohibition of abortion and the criminalisation and detention of women for so-called abortion-related offences under article 133 of the Criminal Code (New Zealand);
Gambia
Accepted
- Enhance efforts to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity, including through improving access to obstetric and neonatal care (Indonesia);
- Support women’s empowerment by increasing their participation in the formal economy in a meaningful and substantive manner and by putting an end to caste-based discrimination (Romania).
Noted
- Amend sections 27 and 33 (5) of the Constitution and section 45 of the Women’s Act to include a guarantee of women’s equal rights in marriage, family relations and their dissolution, inheritance, child maintenance and custody (Zambia);
- Increase efforts to enforce existing legislation banning gender discrimination and sexual and gender-based violence, including female genital mutilation, and include marital rape as an offence in the Sexual Offences Act (Belgium);
Bolivia
Read our report for Bolivia here.
Accepted
- Adopt concrete measures to gradually reduce the number of workers in the informal sector of the economy, especially women and young people (Italy);
- Strengthen efforts to enforce the principle of equal pay for work of equal value and eliminate occupational segregation (Namibia);
- Strengthen support for families with young children, especially with regards to access to housing, health care and education, and continue efforts for the economic empowerment of women (Pakistan);
- Reinforce initiatives to address challenges and risks posed by natural disasters, particularly for women and children, as well as persons with disabilities (Pakistan);
- Ensure that all children, regardless of the gender identity or sexual orientation of their parents are registered immediately after their birth and issued with an official birth certificate (South Africa).
Fiji
Accepted
- Take effective measures to ensure that thorough investigations and prosecutions are carried out for persons who engage in the use, procuring or offering of children for prostitution, and that sufficient, effective and dissuasive sanctions are imposed (Eswatini);
- Increase access to comprehensive health services, especially in rural areas and remote islands by expanding healthcare infrastructure and training health personnel, including sexual and reproductive health policies, and integrating maternal health services into primary care (Mexico);
- Implement specific measures to address the causes that contribute to declining secondary school completion rates, such as poverty, early marriage and gender disparities, while expanding initiatives that promote equitable access to quality education (Costa Rica);
- Strengthen the prevention and combat of gender-based violence by eliminating traditional reconciliation practices like ‘bulubulu’ and removing its consideration as a mitigating factor in judicial proceedings (Mexico).
San Marino
Accepted
- Strengthen mechanisms to ensure that female migrant care workers ('badanti') are not subject to discrimination based on gender or migration status, as well as to prevent human trafficking and other forms of exploitation (Brazil);
- Pay more attention to economic, social and cultural rights and the right to development and eliminate inequalities (China);
- Strengthen efforts to reduce gender inequality in political and economic spheres across both public and private sectors, including closing the gap in women's unemployment rates compared to men and promoting equitable representation in political leadership roles and managerial positions within the private sector (Indonesia);
Noted
- Establish a procedure for determining refugee status that takes into account gender and age and is consistent with the definition of refugee contained in the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (Colombia).
Kazakhstan
Accepted
- Conduct regular campaigns to address gender stereotypes, including by removing gender stereotypes from educational materials used at schools and higher education institutions (Estonia);
- Ensure the provision of CSE in and out of schools (Iceland);
Noted
- Ratify the ILO Convention 190 and reform the labour legislation to include a definition of sexual harassment in the workplace (Mexico);
- Abolish the requirements for mandatory sterilisation and psychiatric evaluations for legal gender recognition and implement a process based on self-determination (Iceland).
Angola
Read our report for Angola here.
Accepted
- Continue efforts to implement legislation guaranteeing property rights and the attribution of land recognition titles to rural communities, including by taking adequate measures, such as fair compensation for expropriated communal land (Switzerland);
- Enhance the national campaign to accelerate the reduction of maternal and neo-natal mortality, including by expanding rural health facilities and training for healthcare workers (Philippines);
- Strengthen and improve the implementation of programs dedicated to end violence against women by allocating sufficient funds and increasing financial support for victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse (Morocco);
Noted
- Ensure that nationality laws and regulations include adequate safeguards to prevent statelessness in the event of loss of Angolan nationality (Mexico).
Iran
Accepted
- Continue its efforts to further increase the resilience of populations to the harmful effects of unilateral coercive measures (Burkina Faso);
Noted
- Immediately and unconditionally release and rehabilitate all persons arbitrarily arrested and detained in the context of the protests or for non-compliance with or advocacy against the mandatory hijab (Lithuania);
- Disband the morality police and end measures aimed at restricting women and girls in the exercise of their human rights (Switzerland);
- Ensure that children of Iranian mothers married to undocumented migrants or refugees automatically acquire their nationality (Colombia).
Madagascar
Accepted
- Strengthen measures to eliminate discrimination against girls, twins, children with disabilities, those living with HIV/AIDS and those with albinism (Cyprus).
- Remove the legal exceptions to the minimum marriage age of 18 and conduct awareness campaigns on the harmful effects of child marriages (Ghana);
- Consider repealing Memorandum No. 2023-862, which currently prohibits continued studies for girls married after pregnancy (Sierra Leone).
Noted
- Withdraw the law providing for surgical castration for the perpetrators of certain crimes (France).
Iraq
Accepted
- Step up support to the initiative for transfer of technologies and capacity-building to promote the effective implementation of the right to development (Cuba);
Noted
- Introduce exceptions to the personal status laws in order for children born out of conflict-related sexual violence to take on the name and religion of their mothers, and encourage implementation of already existing legal possibilities (Germany);
Rejected
- Withdraw reservations to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, in order to repeal all discriminatory laws and practices and ensure equality in all matters relating to family and marital relations; and repeal legal provisions that pardon punishment for rapists who marry their victims (Uruguay);
- Decriminalize same-sex relations by repealing the Anti-Prostitution Law (Malta).
Slovenia
Accepted
- Adopt temporary special measures to accelerate women’s equal participation in all areas covered by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and at all levels where women were underrepresented or disadvantaged (South Sudan);
- Adopt targeted measures for the economic empowerment of women, address the risk of the feminization of poverty and mainstream gender into its social inclusion strategies (Zambia);
- Put an end to sexist harassment targeting women journalists, particularly by effectively addressing sexist threats made online and offline against them (Luxembourg);
- Implement measures in institutional care settings to prevent violence and neglect against persons with disabilities, including psychosocial disabilities, to protect their autonomy and to ensure accountability for violations (Portugal).
Egypt
Accepted
- Consider enacting a legislation to protect the rights of domestic workers and prevent their exploitation (Philippines);
- Intensify its efforts to prohibit wage discrimination and to increase the representation of women in positions of responsibility (Burundi);
Noted
- Adopt a national strategy with a human rights-based approach to end the intimidation, arbitrary detention and criminalization of human rights defenders, especially women and girls human rights defenders (Costa Rica);
- Enact a law criminalizing all forms of violence against women, including domestic violence, sexual harassment, marital rape, institutional violence, virginity testing and honour killing (Slovakia).
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Read our report for Bosnia and Herzegovina here.
Accepted
- Complete prosecutions for war crimes and establish a system of reparations accessible to all victims, alongside reconciliation efforts (Luxembourg);
- Ensure safe and legal access to abortion services across the country (Iceland);
- Incorporate mandatory comprehensive sexuality education into public school curricula (Estonia);
- Introduce a transparent administrative self-identification process for legal gender recognition free from intrusive requirements (Iceland). "