STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1455

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.R. No. 157

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.R. No. 157 entitled:

"SENATE RESOLUTION REQUESTING STATEWIDE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW RECOMMENDATIONS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to request statewide implementation of the United Nations Universal Periodic Review Recommendations.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Americans for Democratic Action and one individual. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.

Your Committee finds that 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. Your Committee further finds that 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 that the United States appeared at the UPR in 2010, 2014, and most recently in 2020. Your Committee additionally finds that Hawai‘i has had civil society and community associations participate in all three UPR cycles, and was the first state to conduct a Voluntary Local Review at the UN, sharing local strategies regarding the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals through the Aloha+ Challenge. Your Committee also finds that continued participation with and implementation of UPR recommendations will continue to benefit the State.

Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.R. No. 157, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.R. No. 157, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary,

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KARL RHOADS, Chair