A/HRC/35/18 network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) also completed a shadow report for the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and was offered comments and suggestions by UNAMA/OHCHR; the Government was expected to submit its initial report in early 2017. 20. In Cambodia, OHCHR, in close partnership with civil society, has monitored the implementation of the Law on Associations and Non-governmental Organizations since its adoption in 2015. It successfully contributed to increasing knowledge among civil society through a series of training courses partly supported by the Voluntary Fund, aimed at raising awareness about the right to peaceful assembly under international human rights law and domestic legislation and building local capacity to comply with the law. OHCHR also produced a Khmer version of the checklist drawn up by the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association on the proper management of assemblies. OHCHR supported a symposium on the six-month review of the Trade Union Law, which brought together 129 representatives from trade unions across sectors. They discussed the challenges faced under the new law and made recommendations for amendments to it with a view to improving its compliance with the country’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Labour Organization conventions. 21. In the Philippines, two bills aimed at establishing a national preventive mechanism under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment were filed in the Seventeenth Congress and one bill was discussed by the House Committee on Human Rights in November 2016. Through funds allocated by the Voluntary Fund, originally intended for 2015 but deferred to 2016 at the request of the National Human Rights Commission, the Human Rights Adviser supported the organization of a national workshop held by the Commission in December 2016 on advancing the establishment of a national preventive mechanism. 22. OHCHR provided extensive support to Samoa before, during and after its second universal periodic review in the form of a United Nations Volunteer/universal periodic review coordinator funded by the Voluntary Fund. In order to support the functions of the national mechanism for reporting and follow-up, the volunteer based in Samoa designed an implementation monitoring and data-collection website application, obtaining funding for its development from the United Nations Development Programme and New Zealand. The application, entitled “Sadata”, was under development and would be integrated into the work of the national mechanism for reporting and follow-up in early 2017. 23. In Thailand, OHCHR organized a workshop on the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the establishment of the national preventive mechanism. The programme served as a useful means to raise Thai officials’ awareness of the importance of ratification of that instrument as part of its efforts to end the use of torture. The Government has agreed to ratify the Optional Protocol by 2017. In addition, OHCHR organized a fiveday training session for the Royal Thai Police on law enforcement and human rights, which raised police officers’ awareness of fundamental human rights. OHCHR also organized a high-level discussion with senior police officials, which was instrumental in raising human rights and policing concerns at the leadership level of the Royal Thai Police. OHCHR plans to continue its engagement with the Royal Thai Police on capacity development in 2017. Europe and Central Asia 24. In Serbia, the Government approved a new housing bill in November 2016 and sent it to the parliament for approval. Consultation, outreach and training measures were supported by the Voluntary Fund. OHCHR provided the Government with extensive comments on multiple drafts of the bill. It aimed to enhance the holistic human rights character of the bill and establish a strong legal basis for good human rights-based development of the Serbian housing sector on the basis of the recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context, in the report of her mission in May 2015 (see A/HRC/31/54/Add.2). OHCHR also provided a non-paper to the Government on normative requirements in the area of the right to adequate housing and 5