08 November 2016 — Ambassador Cecilia B. Rebong, Permanent Representative to the U.N. and Other International Organizations, chaired the Troika of the Working Group for the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the Iceland.

The Philippines, together with the Venezuela and Algeria, formed the Troika of the Working Group on UPR that prepared the report of review of the human rights record of the Iceland. The Working Group report was presented and adopted by the UN Human Rights Council on November 04.

Iceland accepted only 112 out 164 recommendations it received to improve its human rights records but noted the rest of the recommendations. Two of the three Philippine recommendations were accepted by Iceland.

According to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) “is a unique process, which involves a review of the human rights records of all UN Member States.”

It is a “state-driven process, under the auspices of the Human Rights Council, which provides the opportunity for each State to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to fulfill their human rights obligations,” it added. END