A/HRC/27/9 83. Jamaica stated that despite the absence of a national report, the commitment of Dominica to the UPR mechanism must be recognized. Capacity constraints and the resources challenges faced by small island developing States could prevent their timely and effective compliance with their reporting obligations. Jamaica strongly supported efforts to strengthen technical assistance and capacity-building, in particular from OHCHR, on how to meet reporting and implementation obligations. It welcomed measures taken by Dominica, such as the review of the national legal framework, and efforts to combat domestic violence and child abuse and to support gender equality and women’s empowerment. It was pleased that Dominica had acceded to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 84. Kenya acknowledged that Dominica had upgraded its legal and administrative frameworks to reform laws, policies and practices, noting in particular its strengthening of the framework to combat domestic violence and physical abuse of children. It acknowledged the challenges that would require the attention of Dominica in the future. 85. Sierra Leone said that it understood the difficulties faced by a small island nation in the preparation of national reports but encouraged Dominica to submit its overdue reports to the relevant treaty bodies and to provide further information on progress achieved in the implementation of the UPR recommendations. It commended Dominica on conducting an extensive review of the legal framework and administrative measures with a view to reforming national laws, and urged it to implement an inclusive health plan, to combat gender-based violence and to harmonize a protection framework for stateless persons. 86. The head of delegation said that the extensive recommendations of all delegations concerning matters that would continue to be the focus of his country’s efforts had been noted. While much had been accomplished, much remained to be done. Dominica remained committed to the UPR process and to fulfilling its obligations. 87. With respect to the ratification of conventions, the constraints encountered by Dominica in its efforts to fulfil its obligations under the conventions it had already ratified had caused it to reflect deeply before undertaking further such obligations. However, the assistance of OHCHR in that regard was welcome. Dominica would like to have a meaningful dialogue on the issue of capacity to see how to fulfil its current obligations and would provide adequate information for the conventions that it had ratified. 88. The Government was elected to represent the people, and it was the people who were required to determine how to transform society. The transformation was a process that would take time, effort and education, in addition to public awareness. It was more beneficial to have engagement from the ground up and to include the people in the process, as that would ensure that some of the values that the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review wished to transfer were widely accepted. Although several countries had taken centuries to rid themselves of some of the issues that the Working Group was asking Dominica to tackle, his country remained open to dialogue and invited United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), international organizations and other States to engage with it. 89. All children from Dominica had access to primary and secondary education. More specifically, while the Government had the will to ensure education for children with disabilities, the limited resources available represented a real challenge. It was hoped that those countries that had raised concerns in connection with that issue would engage with Dominica bilaterally so that they could work towards achieving that goal. 90. The Working Group might consider revisiting the concern about the unsafe environment of human rights defenders, because there was no form of violence against them in Dominica, nor was there any environment of fear and intimidation for any group. 13