Geneva -The United Nations opened its fourth session of the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva on Monday, which will see 16 countries over the next two weeks have their rights records checked and critiqued.

The UN's Human Rights Council, established in 2006, set up a process so that each member state of the international organ will be reviewed once every four years on its human rights policies.

Governments, including of the country in question, the UN and non-governmental groups provide their take on each state's record, and then a body of the Council issues a report with its recommendations.

The next two weeks will include open sessions on Germany, the first country to be reviewed, as well as Canada, China, Cuba, Mexico, Russia, and Saudi Arabia amongst others.

The first session began with the Council warning that financial constraints might hinder the periodic review process and a diplomatic appeal was issued to keep funding flowing. (dpa)