UN ORGANIZATIONS, UN MECHANISMS & UN SPECIAL PROCEDURES UNESCO UNESCO being the UN organization for science, education and culture, promotes and defends artists through two interrelated mechanisms. The 1980 Recommendation concerning the Status of the Artist as well as the 2005 UNESCO Convention. As an international law, the 2005 Convention operates within the context of the United Nations rules and procedures. All the countries that have ratified the Convention are called “Parties” and together form “the Conference of Parties”. When a country ratifies a Convention, it becomes legally bound to the terms of that Convention and should as such report on progress and challenges every four years through the so called QPR mechanism. Since 2019 Artistic Freedom is a reporting requirement. State parties are supposed to report on: • Policies and measures that promote and protect freedoms of creation and expression and participation in cultural life; • Policies and measures that promote and protect the social and economic rights of artists and cultural professionals. UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL, UPR MECHANISM The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a unique process which involves a review of the human rights records of all UN Member States. The UPR is a state-driven process, under the auspices of the Human Rights Council, which provides the opportunity for each state to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to fulfil their human rights obligations. As one of the main features of the Council, the UPR is designed to ensure equal treatment for every country when their human rights situations are assessed. The ultimate aim of this mechanism is to improve the human rights situation in all countries and address human rights violations wherever they occur. Currently, no other universal mechanism of this kind exists. CSOs may submit their own reports – often called “shadow reports.” These may influence other countries to read state reports more critically. More information: https://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/upr/pages/uprmain.aspx A special UPR Info group organizes pre-sessions for CSOs, where they present their analysis of the situation in countries that come up for “examination". https://www.upr-info.org/en/upr-process/pre-sessions 43