Navigating Devolution at the UPR: The Case of the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is somewhat unique in its constitutional composition, with each of its regions – Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland – governed by ‘devolved’ administrations that derive their authority from the UK ‘Westminster’ Parliament. This is referred to as devolution. This chapter examines the challenges that devolution poses for the UK’s engagement with each stage of the Universal Periodic Review. This includes, navigating the ‘broad consultation’ process in advance of reviews; how recommendations might (or might not) be appropriately targeted to devolved administrations; and the role of devolved administrations in responding to and implementing recommendations. Measures that might be adopted in the UK to better realise this engagement are also analysed. These matters are explored through a review of documentation on the UK’s three UPRs to date; and a reading of the legislation and scholarship on the nature of devolution in the state. This piece is a unique contribution to the UPR scholarship. Though federalisation has received some attention in the literature, devolution as a distinct form of decentralisation has received almost none. This is, therefore, the first scholarly contribution to focus primarily on this issue.