International Communications
The Institute for the Advancement of Justice & Human Rights (IAJ) corresponds with international human rights bodies, treaty-monitoring committees, and country missions to the United Nations. This page collects the communications the IAJ has publicly issued, organized by recipient body and year.
UN Treaty Bodies
2026
Human Rights Council (HRC) — 53rd Universal Periodic Review (UPR 53)
The IAJ addressed the President of the United Nations Human Rights Council in connection with the 53rd session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR 53):
- Letter to the President of the Human Rights Council re UPR 53 (2026-08-24) (original) (letter via US mail)
The IAJ addressed the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in connection with UPR 53:
The IAJ addressed the 8 NGOs that objected to the USA’s 2025 boycott of the UPR.
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- Email to The Advocates for Human Rights (2026-08-25)
- UPR Project, Birmingham City University (2026-08-25)
- Email to Center for Constitutional Rights (2026-08-25)
- Email to National Homelessness Law Center (2026-08-25) (auto-response)
- Email to Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights (2026-08-25)
- Email to ERA Coalition (2026-08-25)
- Email to Equality Now (2026-08-25)
- Email to Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law (2026-08-25) (auto-response)
See the sections below for UPR 53 coordination correspondence with civil society organizations and NGOs engaged with UPR 53.
Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) — 19th Session of the Conference of States Parties (COSP19)
The IAJ addressed the 19th Session of the Conference of States Parties to the CRPD (COSP19) regarding the development of a General Comment on Article 13 of the Convention (access to justice for persons with disabilities).
2025
Committee against Torture (CAT) — 83rd Session
The IAJ engaged with the Committee against Torture around its 83rd Session, which focused on Israel, Argentina, Bahrain, and Albania. See the 83rd Session country status and agenda and the OHCHR press release announcing the reviews.
- IAJ pre-session correspondence to CAT (2025-09-15)
- IAJ introduction letter to CAT (2025-09-19)
- IAJ Shadow Report to CAT (2025-09-19)
Related Communications to U.S. Authorities (coincident to CAT 83rd Session)
Concurrent with the IAJ’s engagement with the Committee against Torture, the IAJ addressed U.S. authorities on matters of United States treaty compliance and reform of U.S. jurisprudence.
- PAG letter to the State Department (2025-09-15) — dialogue for correction of U.S. treaty compliance, coincident to the 83rd session of the CAT.
- Attachments: 9th Circuit Motion to Reconsider and Declaration; SCOTUS letter.
- PAG letter to SCOTUS (2025-09-17) — call for systemic reform of jurisprudence and integration of IAJ into the judicial process in the USA.
Country Missions to the United Nations
2026
Human Rights Council (HRC) — 53rd Universal Periodic Review (UPR 53)
Correspondence with country Permanent Missions to the United Nations in Geneva for UPR 53.
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Civil Society and Non-Governmental Organizations
2026
Human Rights Council (HRC) — 53rd Universal Periodic Review (UPR 53)
The IAJ communicated with 33 civil-society organizations and NGOs engaged in UPR 53. The 33 are U.S. and international NGOs, university human rights clinics, and advocacy coalitions, each of which either filed or joined a joint stakeholder submission for the U.S. fourth-cycle UPR in 2025, or presented advocacy at the August 2025 pre-session, thereby contributing the civil-society evidence now frozen in the record on which the 10 November 2026 review was scheduled to proceed. Each organization and NGO received a copy of the IAJ Advocacy Brief for UPR 53.
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- Email template used to email each of these civil society organizations, and provide an individualized letter and a citation audit and a constitutent decision ledger formulated by the IAJ in response to the submission by each organization to UPR 53
- The Human Rights Defense Project --> cover and submission
- UCI Law International Justice Clinic --> Joint submission JS61
- ACLU Human Rights Program --> Joint submission JS61
- Physicians for Human Rights --> cover and submission
- Center for Victims of Torture --> Joint submission JS47
- Human Rights for Kids --> cover and Joint submission JS37
- National Disability Rights Network --> cover and Joint submission JS37
- RISE for Youth --> cover and Joint submission JS37
- PACT (by ECPAT-USA) --> cover and Joint submission JS37
- Abortion Care Network --> Joint submission JS39
- Center for Reproductive Rights --> Joint submission JS39
- National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum --> Joint submission JS39
- National Black Midwives Alliance --> Joint submission JS39
- National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice --> Joint submission JS39
- Women Enabled International --> Joint submission JS39
- Santa Clara University IHRC --> cover and submission
- University of Miami Human Rights Clinic --> cover and submission JS2 and SCU-IHRC (endorser)
- UNC Criminalized Survivor, Detention, and Justice Clinic --> cover and submission JS2
- Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide --> cover and submission JS2 and cover and submission JS38
- Georgetown Center on Gender Justice & Opportunity --> cover and submission JS2
- University of Maryland Gender, Prison & Trauma Clinic --> cover and submission JS2
- National Defense Center for Criminalized Survivors (BWJP) --> cover and submission JS2
Universal Periodic Review Fourth Cycle — United States of America
Working documents supporting IAJ’s fourth-cycle UPR engagement on the United States: the 2025 stakeholder record used for the eligibility check, the third-cycle recommendation record used for missions targeting, and the procedural instruments governing NGO participation.
2025 Stakeholder Record (eligibility check)
- U.S. country page, OHCHR — footnote 3 links the full submission set for the current review cycle.
- Stakeholder submissions index (Session 50) — direct index of every stakeholder submission filed for the 50th UPR session on the United States.
- A/HRC/WG.6/50/USA/3 — Summary of Stakeholder Submissions — endnote 1 lists every contributing organization; primary source for verifying which NGOs participated in the current cycle.
- A/HRC/WG.6/50/USA/2 — UN Compilation — OHCHR’s compilation of UN treaty-body and Special Procedures information for the same session.
Third-Cycle Recommendation Record (missions targeting)
- A/HRC/46/15 — Working Group Report — the outcome document of the third-cycle U.S. review; contains every recommendation made by reviewing States.
- A/HRC/46/15/Add.1 — U.S. Response Addendum — U.S. government reply on which recommendations it accepted, noted, or rejected.
- Thematic Matrix of Recommendations (.docx) — recommendations sorted by theme and by recommending State; the working document for mapping missions to concerns.
- High Commissioner’s Follow-Up Letter — formal High Commissioner correspondence to the United States on outstanding third-cycle recommendations.
Procedural
- Stakeholder Technical Guidelines, 4th Cycle (PDF) — OHCHR’s formal drafting and submission rules for civil-society stakeholders in the current cycle.
- UPR submissions portal — the actual OHCHR endpoint through which stakeholder submissions are filed.
- ECOSOC consultative status — application overview — UN ECOSOC’s explanatory page on applying for consultative status, the qualifying credential for many UN participatory rights.
- ECOSOC paperless portal (esango) — the ECOSOC applications submission system.
- ECOSOC Resolution 1996/31 (PDF) — the constitutive resolution governing the ECOSOC consultative-status regime.
Last updated: September 15, 2026