A/HRC/36/8 Introduction 1. The Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, established in accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 5/1, held its twenty-seventh session from 1 to 12 May 2017. The review of Finland was held at the 6th meeting, on 3 May 2017. The delegation of Finland was headed by the Minister of Social Affairs and Health of Finland, Pirkko Mattila. At its 10th meeting, held on 5 May 2017, the Working Group adopted the report on Finland. 2. On 13 February 2017, the Human Rights Council selected the following group of rapporteurs (troika) to facilitate the review of Finland: Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia. 3. In accordance with paragraph 15 of the annex to Human Rights Council resolution 5/1 and paragraph 5 of the annex to Council resolution 16/21, the following documents were issued for the review of Finland: (a) A national report submitted/written presentation made in accordance with paragraph 15 (a) (A/HRC/WG.6/27/FIN/1); (b) A compilation prepared by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in accordance with paragraph 15 (b) (A/HRC/WG.6/27/FIN/2 and Corr.1); (c) A summary prepared by OHCHR in accordance with paragraph 15 (c) (A/HRC/WG.6/27/FIN/3). 4. A list of questions prepared in advance by Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was transmitted to Finland through the troika. These questions are available on the extranet of the universal periodic review. I. Summary of the proceedings of the review process A. Presentation by the State under review 5. The head of the delegation of Finland emphasized the importance of the universal periodic review and the active role played by civil society in the review process. The Government had recently made significant changes in the national monitoring and implementation of human rights, including the establishment of the independent Human Rights Centre and the government network of contact persons for fundamental and human rights. The Centre, its Human Rights Delegation and the Office of the Parliamentary Ombudsman together formed the national human rights institution, which had been granted A status in 2015. 6. The report for the universal periodic review had been drafted simultaneously with the second National Action Plan on Fundamental and Human Rights. With reference to the Human Rights Report from 2014, she drew attention to the long-standing priorities of the country’s human rights policy, namely the importance of the free and active participation of civil society in all spheres of life, non-discrimination, openness and inclusion of all people, with particular focus on the rights of women and girls, indigenous peoples, minorities and persons with disabilities. Finland continued to systematically promote economic, social and cultural rights. Those priorities formed a strong basis for Finland when standing for membership in the 2021 Human Rights Council election. She reaffirmed her country’s strong support for freedom of speech and freedom of expression, noting that Finland was celebrating the centenary of its independence in 2017. Major structural reforms were being planned in social welfare and health care, and in local and regional government. She reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to promoting work-related migration and to granting international protection to those in need, as well as to zero tolerance of racist speech and other hate speech. Finland had created a new government anti-trafficking 2