A/HRC/41/8/Add.1 118.87 34. Being implemented. 118.84 35. Accepted. 118.89, 118.90, 118.91, 118.92, 118.93, 118.94, 118.95 36. Being implemented. 37. Since 2005 a series of measures have been adopted to address poverty and adjust State welfare provision. They ushered in a large number of institutional innovations, including the establishment of the Ministry of Social Development. This new institutional set-up gave social policies a key role, increased public social expenditure and initiated wide-ranging strategic planning on the subject. 38. All these measures have resulted in a sustained reduction of poverty which has dropped to historically low levels, as can be seen from our national report: in 2017, the poverty rate in Uruguay fell to 7.9 per cent, while extreme poverty fell to 0.1 per cent and inequality measured on the GINI index to 0.38 per cent. According to the most recent report of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Uruguay is the only country in the region which has met the United Nations goal of halving poverty and reducing extreme poverty to less than 3 per cent. 39. Uruguay reaffirms its commitment to the universal right of access to potable water, as is evidenced by the fact that 99 per cent of the population throughout the country enjoy this right. 118.98, 118.99, 118.100, 118.101, 118.102, 118.103, 118.104. 118.105, 118.106, 118.107, 118.108, 118.109, 118.110 40. Being implemented. 118.111, 118.112, 118.113, 118.114, 11.115, 118.116, 118.117, 118.118, 118.119, 118.120, 118.121, 118.122, 118.123., 118.125 41. Article 15 of the General Education Act lays down the principles of free, secular education offering equal opportunities, which govern the education system in Uruguay. In pursuance of this provision, Uruguay provides access to education throughout the national territory. The network of primary schools covers all children in both urban and rural areas, as does basic secondary education which offers places to all children who have completed primary education. 42. The school access and retention rate of girls and young women is higher than that of boys and by the time they reach 17, the age at which compulsory schooling ends, it works out at 84 per cent of women as against 76 per cent of boys. 118.124 43. Implemented. 44. It must be made clear that in all matters related to the rights of the child in Uruguay, legislation and measures are adopted in line with the obligations and commitments undertaken under the international human rights instruments which it has ratified, in particular the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocols thereto, and they take account of the concluding observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. The Convention recognizes the rights and responsibilities of parents or guardians, but it emphasizes that their purpose is to enable children to exercise their rights. In the Committee’s view, article 5 of the Convention confirms that parental authority is never unlimited and article 18 underscores the fact that parents’ rights and duties stem from their responsibility to ensure the child’s well-being, in other words to act in his or her best interests. GE.19-07103 5