The 50th session of the Universal Periodic Review was held from 3 to 14 November 2025. 13 countries were reviewed during the session: Belarus, Malawi, Panama, Andorra, Honduras, Liberia, Mongolia, Maldives, Bulgaria, the Marshall Islands, Jamaica, Croatia and Libya.
In collaboration with our partners, the SRI submitted reports for Malawi and the United States of America.
The United States of America was meant to be reviewed during this session, but opted out as an extension of its withdrawal from the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms. This non-participation is a direct challenge to the principle of universality, which underpins the Universal Periodic Review. As a result of this non-cooperation, the Human Rights Council adopted decision A/HRC/OM/19/L.1, “Non-cooperation of a State under review with the Universal Periodic Review mechanism”. The decision urges the United States of America to re-engage with the UPR. It also rescheduled its review for 2026 at the fifty-third session of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, while leaving open the possibility for it to be scheduled sooner.
The 50th session saw the continuation of themes raised during the 49th and 48th sessions. This session included recommendations focused on women’s economic and social rights, addressing gender based violence in all its manifestations, the gendered impacts of climate change, and the degradation of the environment due to inter alia the lingering impacts of nuclear testing.
The UPR outcome for each State reviewed during UPR 50 will be adopted at the 61st session of the HRC, which will be held in March 2026. 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 formal 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 50 review. Click here for the full list of recommendations made related to sexual rights, including State responses to date. As noted above, the trend of an increasing concern for women’s economic and social rights continued this session. This session's sexual rights recommendations have touched on the impact of climate change on sexual rights, the inheritance rights of women, the right to work and to just and favourable conditions of work, women’s economic empowerment through entrepreneurship, the right to be free from violence, including marital rape and the abolition of child marriage.
Belarus
Deferred
- Accede to ILO Conventions, including Convention No. 156 relating to Workers with Family Responsibilities and Convention No. 190 relating to Violence and Harassment (Mauritius);
- Adopt a comprehensive law that provides a framework for promoting gender equality and repeal provisions that criminalise HIV transmission (Colombia);
- Promote equal opportunities in admissions and academic training processes, ensuring equitable access, without distinction based on gender or other conditions (Costa Rica);
- Improve detention conditions and guarantee access to healthcare for all detainees, particularly the most vulnerable, including the elderly, the seriously ill, persons with disabilities, and women (Switzerland);
- Promote rural and small-town enterprise support schemes, including micro-credit and women-led entrepreneurship initiatives (Malaysia).
Liberia
Deferred
- Ensure the effective functioning of the War and Economic Crimes Court and fully implement the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Slovenia);
- Improve environmental protection and the right to a healthy environment by promoting sustainable management of natural resources and adaptation to climate change (Mozambique);
- Increase efforts to end child marriage, female genital mutilation, and gender-based violence, and support women's participation in decision-making (Lesotho);
- Review and strengthen the Domestic Violence Act to criminalise all forms of sexual and gender based violence (Iceland).
Malawi
Read our reports for Malawi here.
Deferred
- Review and amend laws and customary practices that perpetuate discriminatory inheritance norms to ensure equal land and property rights for women (Botswana);
- Take steps to address continued discrimination against women, including recognising marital rape as a criminal offence (Cabo Verde);
- Strengthen initiatives to promote equality between men and women, in particular by guaranteeing female representation in decision-making positions and by reinforcing mechanisms to combat harassment and gender-based violence (Cameroon);
- Continue to defend and promote life from conception to natural death, including by abolishing the death penalty (Holy See).
Mongolia
Deferred
- Continue the work of advancing gender equality in the workplace by accelerating implementation of the National Policy on Making Workplaces Gender-Sensitive and promoting measurable targets for women’s representation and safe working conditions (Maldives);
- Identify and address the barriers and financial constraints in accessing education for children from low-income households, and close the gap in educational attainment between the poor and wealthier segments of the population (Croatia);
- Strengthen the legal and public policy framework that promotes gender equality, prevents and punishes gender-based violence, and guarantees women’s equitable access to education, employment, political participation, and sexual and reproductive health services (Costa Rica);
- Take further measures against child labour, as well as domestic and sexual violence against children (Germany).
Panama
Deferred
- Strengthen the fight against corruption and ensure transparency in decisions relating to indigenous lands (Cabo Verde);
- Strengthen guidance for the financial sector on disclosures of beneficial ownership to support international anti-corruption efforts and fast track the repatriation of funds of illicit origin to their countries of origin (Pakistan);
- Redouble efforts to ensure universal social security coverage, expanding the contributory and non-contributory schemes to include all workers in the informal sector (India);
- Adopt a comprehensive anti-discrimination law that includes sexual and reproductive rights (Estonia).
Maldives
Deferred
- Abolish the death penalty, particularly for crimes such as adultery, and move towards a total moratorium on executions (Costa Rica);
- 135.125 Decriminalise all consensual sexual relations between adults outside of marriage (Denmark);
- Finalise the review of family law and associated legislation to harmonise with international human rights standards, including obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Kiribati);
- Enhance further measures to protect the rights and welfare of migrant workers by ensuring clear and transparent employment contracts, fair wages and working conditions, as well as essential health-care services, including in smaller islands (Indonesia).
Andorra
Deferred
- Improve adolescent access to sexual and reproductive health services, as well as information on family planning and contraception (Cyprus);
- Ensure within its territory access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services without discrimination and adopt the necessary legislative reforms to decriminalise voluntary termination of pregnancy, at least in cases of rape, incest, risk to the woman's life or health and serious fetal malformations (Mexico);
- Step up measures to ensure universal access to quality education for all, including migrants, women, children and persons with disabilities (Nepal).
Bulgaria
Deferred
- Take additional steps to reduce the gender pay gap and promote equal pay for equal work between men and women (Nigeria);
- Establish a mechanism that promotes gender equality, ensures adequate allocation of resources and improves ways to assess their impact (Serbia);
- Adopt effective national policies that protect the Roma population from structural discrimination and hate crimes (Cuba);
- Investigate and punish those responsible for cases of child and organ trafficking (Burkina Faso);
- Amend the Criminal Code to criminalise marital rape explicitly and to ensure the definition of rape is fully in line with the international standards (Ireland).
Honduras
Deferred
- Adopt legislative and regulatory measures to guarantee the right to mental health (Cameroon);
- Ensure the prompt establishment of breastfeeding rooms in all public institutions and promote their adoption in the private sector (Costa Rica);
- Increase sentences for femicide, making them commensurate with the gravity of the crime, criminalise marital rape, and expand the network of specialised shelters for women and girls who are victims of gender-based violence (South Africa);
- Strengthen measures aimed at preventing the sale and sexual exploitation of children, particularly by organised criminal groups, taking into account an approach based on the protection of the rights of children and adolescents (Peru).
Marshall Islands
Deferred
- Develop a child and gender-sensitive climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction strategy as well as strengthen legal frameworks to ensure that climate adaptation measures are integrated into all levels of planning and development (Brazil);
- Adopt policies to enhance birth registration through digital systems, mobile registration units for remote communities, and strengthen coordination between health facilities and civil registration services (Lesotho);
- Reduce adolescent pregnancies by implementing an integrated framework including sexuality education, youth friendly reproductive health services, enforcement of the minimum marriage age of 18, community programs addressing harmful norms, and support for young mothers to continue education (Belgium);
- Take urgent actions to ensure that persons with disabilities have effective access to affordable, accessible and quality health services, and to address without delay the serious and lasting effects of nuclear testing, especially on the sexual and reproductive health of women and girls with disabilities (Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)).
Croatia
Deferred
- Bolster measures to eliminate child marriage by adopting a comprehensive approach that addresses its root causes, together with ensuring the prompt investigation and prosecution of all cases, establishing penalties for those who perform or facilitate child marriage, and providing access to effective remedies and other forms of necessary protection for victims (South Africa);
- Take concrete measures to guarantee effective access to sexual and reproductive health care in accordance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and General Recommendation No. 24 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (Switzerland);
- Collect and publish disaggregated data on all forms of gender-based violence to guide evidence-based policy and response (Iceland);
- Adopt a comprehensive, victim-centred reparations policy to implement the existing legal framework and ensure effective and timely reparations for all categories of victims, including those affected by sexual and
- gender-based violence (Belgium).
Jamaica
Deferred
- Adopt and implement comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation and explicitly prohibit discrimination based on HIV status and the unauthorised disclosure of health information (Portugal);
- Ensure that the review of policies, such as the sexual and reproductive health policy and disaster risk reduction policies, considers the cross-cutting and multifaceted impacts of disasters on vulnerable populations (Fiji);
- Address women's economic vulnerabilities, including by ensuring access to finance and social protection (Thailand);
- Decriminalise same-sex relations by repealing provisions in the Offences Against the Person Act that prohibit same-sex sexual activity, and strengthen legal and policy measures to protect LGBTQIA+ persons, including by combating hate speech and hate crimes (Brazil).
Libya
Deferred
- Adopt all measures to guarantee the rights of women, in particular by reforming nationality law to ensure gender equality, allowing women to pass citizenship on their children on an equal basis with men, and also by amending the Penal Code to explicitly encompass and criminalise all forms of violence against women, including domestic violence and marital rape (Brazil);
- Amend the Penal Code to criminalise all forms of violence against women and repeal discriminatory laws, including the male guardianship system, in line with international human rights standards (Iceland);
- Repeal article 375 of the Penal Code, which mitigates the penalties of so-called “honour crimes” (Iceland).
- Abolish the ‘morality police’ and regulations that restrict the rights of women and girls and limit their participation in public life, in order to promote equality and prevent discrimination (Canada);
Read the full list of sexual rights-related recommendations
What is the Universal Periodic Review?
The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism of the United Nations Human Rights Council reviews each of the 193 Member States of the UN on their entire human rights record every four and a half years.
Explainer on Terminology
- Accepted Recommendation: The state under review agrees to implement the recommendation
- Deferred Recommendation: The state under review will announce ahead of the adoption at the Human Rights Council (in this case in February/March) if it agrees to implement the recommendation
- Noted Recommendation: The state under review does not agree to implement the recommendation