| dc.description.abstract | Amid growing global instability, escalating conflicts, and rampant human rights violations, the legitimacy and effectiveness of multilateral institutions in managing these crises are increasingly called into question. In this climate of skepticism, the United Nations Universal Periodic Review, a human rights monitoring mechanism, has been posited as a key instrument for identifying and preventing internal conflicts through its oversight functions. However, this potential remains unexamined. Drawing on Poststructuralism and Robert Cox’s critical international relations theory, this thesis interrogates the institution's potential to live up to this expectation. Through these frameworks, this investigation explores how global power dynamics and hegemonic influences shape the human rights discourse within the UPR while also questioning the very construction of what constitutes a "problem", revealing what is emphasized and what is omitted, and the implications of these choices for conflict identification and prevention. The findings from the application of Bacchi’s "What's the Problem Represented to be?" framework to the UPR recommendations of Sudan and Colombia reveal that these recommendations often obscure deeper structural problems focusing instead on superficial or symptomatic issues. This misalignment also demonstrates a troubling congruence with the geopolitical interests of powerful nations, thereby overlooking the root causes of human rights violations, creating conditions ripe for conflicts. These findings challenge the perception of the UPR as a neutral arbiter of human rights, unveiling a complex site of struggle, where global hegemonies assert and reassert their dominance through the language of rights and reform. Premised on the findings, I argue for a reconfiguration of the UPR process, advocating for a pluriversal approach that authentically integrates the plethora of local knowledge and perspectives and the dynamism of grassroots movements. This reimagination could substantially enhance the mechanism’s capacity to monitor human rights violations and address root causes of conflicts.
Key Words: Universal Periodic Review, Human rights monitoring, Conflict prevention, Critical international relations theory, "What's the Problem Represented to be?" | |
