THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	157
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2021
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

 

 

Requesting Statewide Implementation of the United Nations Universal Periodic Review Recommendations.

 

 

        WHEREAS, the United Nations (UN) established the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in 2006 to review the human rights records of all one hundred ninety-three UN member states, with the goal of improving human rights; and

 

        WHEREAS, every UN member state appears and actively participates in the UPR hosted by the UN Human Rights Council Working Group in Geneva twice a decade, with each review cycle lasting four and a half years; and

 

        WHEREAS, the United States appeared at the UPR in 2010, 2014, and most recently on November 9, 2020; and

 

        WHEREAS, hundreds of recommendations have been suggested to improve and produce a positive impact in Hawai   i and the United States; and

 

        WHEREAS, Hawai   i is an island state with a multicultural population from around the world, recognizing the ancestral wisdom of our host culture, cherishing our natural environment, and recognizing our unique role in the United States and global community; and

 

        WHEREAS, Hawai   i was considered in 1944 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a potential host for the UN headquarters, to serve as a global diplomatic hub; and

 

        WHEREAS, Hawai   i has had civil society and community associations participate in all three UPR cycles and found that the stakeholder submissions and recommendations issued provided a heightened awareness among state legislators of the significance of promoting and protecting human rights at home in Hawai   i; and

 

        WHEREAS, Hawai   i hosts an annual Human Rights Day to illuminate important and imminent issues at the international and island levels and to review the recommendations provided in the UPR; and

 

        WHEREAS, Hawai   i was designated as America's first Human Rights state by House Resolution No. 194, which was adopted by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-seventh Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2014; and

 

        WHEREAS, Hawai   i was the first state to conduct a Voluntary Local Review at the UN, sharing our local strategies regarding the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals through our Aloha+ Challenge; and

 

        WHEREAS, the Office of Planning has supported the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and it has aligned them with the Hawai   i State Planning Act, the Hawai   i 2050 Sustainability Plan, and the State of Hawaii's Aloha+ Challenge; and

 

        WHEREAS, Hawai   i continues to bring together civil society to review the UPR recommendations and to discuss innovative initiatives to realize human rights at home; and

 

        WHEREAS, in spring 2021, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights will issue a report connecting the third UPR human rights recommendations with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which can be used as a guide to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Hawai   i; and

 

        WHEREAS, civil society can generate solutions and share templates that provide concise, complete contributions about how to realize human rights on every Hawaiian island; and

 

        WHEREAS, Hawai   i continues to be pioneer in peace, sustainability, human rights, and global justice, partnering with city and county councils, as well as leadership from state agencies and elected public officials, to maintain the human rights movement in Hawai   i; and

 

                              WHEREAS, Hawai   i continues to participate in all phases of the UN processes, and it will continue to organize community conversations and commemorations for upcoming global events such as the Paris Agreement, using a locally determined contribution (LDC) to supplement the nationally determined contribution (NDC) and future reports to the United Nations Human Rights Core Treaty Bodies; now, therefore,

 

        BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2021, that this body requests that the recommendations of the third Universal Periodic Review be implemented statewide by the Office of Planning, among other executive departments, in furtherance of the State's Planning Act; and

 

        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Hawai   i Legislature commits to share broadly with the people of Hawai   i the results of the third Universal Periodic Review; and

 

        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the UN Secretary General, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, President of the United States, Vice President of the United States, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate, Hawai   i's congressional delegation, U.S. Department of State, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, Governor, and Director of Planning.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:  

United Nations; Human Rights; Implementation of Universal Periodic Review Recommendations