On April 10, 2026, the ICJ filed a submission to the Human Rights Council’s Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review of Eswatini, in preparation for the review of the human rights situation in the country scheduled for November 2026.
In this contribution to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Eswatini, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) raises concerns and makes recommendations about the following concerns:
• Failure to secure judicial independence;
• Failure to safeguard the independence of lawyers;
• Repression of rights to dissent, and protest; and
• Failure to investigate human rights abuses.
Eswatini accepted numerous recommendations on those concerns during its Third (2021), Second (2016), and its First UPR Cycle. Eswatini has repeatedly accepted UPR recommendations relating to the suppression of the rights of human defenders, the failure to investigate human rights violations against human defenders, and the enhancement of judicial independence. Despite this, little, if any, progress has been made in implementing such recommendations. In fact, the Eswatini government has doubled down on the application of repressive laws and the suppression of dissent to such an extent that the chilling effect on human rights defenders remains at a point of crisis.
