Today, Friday 11 April from 14:30 to 17:30 Geneva time, the Republic of the Philippines will be reviewed during the first session of the UN Human Rights Council - Universal Period Review.The review at the working group level can be viewed LIVE at the following link: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/7session/index.htm

On this page, at the bottom, click "Live webcast" . You will need to have to have "real player" application to view the webcast. If you miss the live broadcast, you can still access the recorded sessions (archived video).

Try also this hyperlink: http://www.un.org/webcast/unhrc/index.asp

The UPR is a new mechanism of the UN Human Rights Council that will enable a review the human rights situation of each country within a four year cycle. The Philippines, being a member of the UN Human Rights Council, is one of the first countries to be reviewed during this first session. Being an inter-governmental process, the review at this stage is limited to states. However, stakeholders including NGOs were able to submit NGO reports which are currently summaried in the OHCHR documentation.

Please see the following link for the full documentation: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR%5CPAGES%5CPHSession1.aspx

There are, apparently, approximately 30 to 40 members of the Philippine government delegation who are here in Geneva for this, headed by ES Eduardo Ermita and Coco Quisumbing, ED and Undersecretary, Presidential Committee on Human Rights. We encountered some of them at the Philippine Mission reception yesterday - the line agencies are represented at undersecretary and assistant secretary level. After the reception, some national and international NGOs attended an informal meeting with Ms. Quisumbing to explore some issues.

There is also a separate 10-person delegation from the Philippine Commission on HR headed by Chairperson Commissioner Purificacion Quisumbing and Commissioner Quintin Cueto III. (This delegation was supposed to have arrived last night).

Among the national NGO human rights advocates present here in Geneva, a PAHRA team composed of Renato Mabunga (PAHRA Sec-Gen), Carlo Cleofe of Task Force Detainees and Josephine Lascano of BALAY Rehabilitation Centre, have been meeting with state delegations concerning the Philippine situation.

In addition, today, within the Palais des Nations, an information meeting sponsored by the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), Human Rights Watch, World Organisation against Torture and Forum-Asia, in partnership with the Philippine ALliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA), will be held from 1 to 2:30 immediately before the official UPR review on the Philippines. (Being an NGO event, this will not be webcast!).

The said information were forwarded to Mila D. Aguilar in Manila by Cej Jimenez of the Geneva Forum for Philippine Concerns (GFPC) # # #