A/HRC/31/78 undertaken in the schools. Early marriages are also a concern. The Government has enlisted the aid of non-governmental organizations in addressing this problem on the basis of a local grass-roots approach to dealing with the families concerned. 3. Sexual violence against women 70. The Ivorian authorities’ records point to a decrease in the number of acts of sexual violence directed against women. It would be desirable for these quantitative findings to be backed up by statistics that have been systematically compiled using scientific methods in order to provide greater guidance in orienting the society ’s response to this problem. The authorities have found that women are more willing than before to report acts of sexual violence committed against them. Increased awareness of this problem and the mechanisms that have been put in place to combat it appear to be gradually bearing fruit. One of these mechanisms is the Legal Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Solidarity, the Family, and Women’s and Children’s Affairs. That office assists women victims of sexual violence and follows through on the legal action that they bring before the courts. The Ministry is also regularly called upon to take action in cases of harassment in the workplace. 71. The fact that the assize courts held no sessions at all between 2002 and 2014 and have held them only irregularly since then has heightened the degree of impunity for the crime of rape which exists in the country and has led to a substantial backlog of rape cases. Given this situation, judicial authorities have been obliged to downgrade these crimes by categorizing them as indecent assault instead of rape so that they can be tried in courts of first instance. This also means, however, that convicted persons are subject to lighter sentences than they would have been if they had been tried by an assize court. 72. The Independent Expert reiterates his concern about the fact that article 354 of the Criminal Code establishes the penalties for rape but does not provide a definition of the offence. The absence of such a definition is not conducive to a common understanding on the part of judicial officials of what constitutes rape and opens the way for varying interpretations of the offence. E. 1. The National Human Rights Commission of Côte d’Ivoire The Commission’s role during the election campaign 73. The National Human Rights Commission of Côte d’Ivoire played an active role during the presidential election campaign and on voting day. In the run-up to the elections, it monitored the registration process, and the comments that it conveyed to the Independent Electoral Commission contributed to the decision to extend the deadline so that the lists would be as inclusive as possible. The National Human Rights Commission also interviewed the candidates and informed the Independent Electoral Commission of their grievances. During the voting, it stationed observers at the polls in coordination with civil society associations and later issued a report on the elections. 2. Publication of the Commission’s annual reports and other activities 74. On 25 September 2015, the National Human Rights Commission of Côte d’Ivoire submitted its first annual report, which covered the year 2014, to the President. That report was then promptly made public, along with the annual report for 2013. This significant achievement deserves mention. The Independent Expert wishes to underscore the importance of issuing annual reports on the human rights situation in the country on a regular basis. It is also important to publish regular reports on 18/23 GE.16-00901