At a recent session of the UN’s Universal Periodic Review, the Prime Minister of Iceland, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, was challenged by representatives from a number of countries over the fact that close to 100% of unborn babies diagnosed with Down syndrome in Iceland are aborted.
The UN’s period review regularly questions its 193 member countries on perceived human rights shortcomings and failures.
This time it was the turn of Iceland. The Philippines took the lead in questioning Iceland’s attitudes towards children with Down syndrome.
The BBC documentary in 2016, A World Without Down Syndrome?, first drew public attention to the treatment of Down syndrome babies in Iceland.
It is laudable the way representatives from the Philippines and other countries challenged Iceland at the UN over its appalling and discriminatory record in this area. We need to see a lot more of this on the international stage.