Naming and praising states? MENA women’s NGO rhetoric at the universal periodic review

If ‘women’s rights are human rights,’ and human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs) criticise state abuses, why do half of Middle East and North African (MENA) women’s NGO submissions express sympathy or praise for MENA states at the United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR)? This article first explains the importance of NGO documentation, reporting, and rhetoric. It then examines various factors producing political divergence between women’s rights and human rights advocacy networks. Finally, the article uses content analysis of MENA women’s NGO submissions and simple descriptive statistics to illuminate major rhetorical patterns and their implications during the first three UPR cycles in four major issue areas: equality, sexual and reproductive health and rights, violence against women, and sexual orientation and gender identity.