The Universal Periodic Review of Kiribati under the First and Second Cycles
6. Kiribati was first subjected to the Universal Periodic Review on 3 May 2010, at Session 8 of the
First Cycle, and subsequently on 19 January 2015, at Session 21 of the Second Cycle of the UPR.
During the first review’s interactive dialogue, Norway expressed concern regarding women’s
equality in law and practice, and made a recommendation to amend legislation, including the
citizenship law, to uphold gender equality. Kiribati determined that it would consider this
recommendation. Several States encouraged Kiribati to take steps to address discrimination
against women and to fully implement the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women, with the government accepting recommendations related to
CEDAW implementation3:
Recommendation
66.12. Guarantee that its laws and policies are in
conformity with the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women, and take measures to combat practices
that perpetuate discrimination against women
and their marginalization, particularly with regard
to their inheritance and citizenship, and adopt
specific legislation properly penalizing domestic
violence and promoting the participation of
women in political life (France);
66.14. Take the measures necessary to bring its
national legislations into conformity with its
international obligations under the CEDAW and
the CRC (Algeria);
66.41. Amend its Constitution so as to expand the
prohibited grounds of discrimination to include
not only gender, but also sexual orientation,
disability, health status and economic status
(Netherlands);
66.52. Review and amend all relevant legislation,
including family law, inheritance law and
domestic nationality and citizenship law, and the
application thereof, in order to ensure equality
between the sexes and compliance with the
CEDAW (Norway);
7. Response by Kiribati
‘Consider’
‘Accepted’
‘Consider’
‘Consider’
8. During the 2015 Second Cycle UPR, Kiribati accepted a recommendation by Argentina to
strengthen measures to achieve gender equality, including women’s ability to confer nationality
3
See the report of the Working Group Universal Periodic Review: Kiribati, 17 June 2010: https://documents-ddsny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G10/144/81/PDF/G1014481.pdf?OpenElement
2