Palestine as a Non-Member Observer State at the United Nations dialogue which take into consideration the concerned state’s needs for capacity building. This mechanism is complementary to, and not repetition of, the work and mechanisms of human rights conventions bodies37. The Universal Periodic Review is based on the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and other human rights instruments to which a state is party. It also relies on the voluntary undertakings given by states upon applying for the Human Rights Council, as well as within international human rights and humanitarian law. One of the principles of the UPR is to promote the universality of human rights and its indivisibility, affirming the importance of cooperative mechanisms based on authentic information and interactive dialogue and ensuring equal treatment for all states. It is a key rule of the Universal Periodic Review to be a governmental process driven by the UN member states and complementary to human rights mechanisms, performed objectively and transparently away from politics. It also ensures that it would not add to the burden of the state or sacrifice the ability of the HRC to immediately respond to human rights situations. It takes into consideration gender issues and ensures participation of all stakeholders, including non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions38. Also aiming to prompt, support and expand the promotion of human rights on the ground, it assesses positive developments and the challenges a state encounters. The UPR provides technical assistance to states and enhances their capacity to deal effectively with human rights challenges, sharing best practices in the field of human rights among states and other stakeholders. It also supports cooperation in the area of protecting and promoting human rights and encouraging cooperation with the HRC and other UN bodies. The Universal Periodic Review is a regular process, reviewing the human rights situations in all the member states of the HRC, beginning with the prior members, especially those who have been elected for one or two years. The human rights situation of observer states is also reviewed, so Palestine will thus be required to submit reports to the HRC39. Observer states may participate in the review, including the interactive dialogue. The outcomes of the review are inscribed in a report, including a brief of the review process, conclusions, recommendations, and voluntary obligations by party state, positive developments and challenges encountered by the state, and best practices. The outcomes are adopted by giving the reviewed state the right to fully participate in deciding on the conclusions. Before the outcomes are adopted, time is also allotted to member and observer states who may wish to express their opinion on the outcome of the review. The recommendations accepted by the state under review shall be defined and other recommendations shall be noted. With regard to the steps taken as follow up to the Universal Periodic Review, the reviewed state has the primary responsibility to implement the recommendations contained in the final outcome; other stakeholders could act if need be. During the second review, the state is expected to provide information on what it has been doing to implement the recommendations made during the first review. 37 http://www.arabhumanrights.org/countries/upr.aspx 38 See UNHRC, institution building (UPR) http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/UPRMain.aspx 39 See UNHRC, institution building (UPR) http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/UPRMain.aspx 19