A/HRC/16/17 Declaration of Human Rights of 10 December 1948 and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights of 28 July 1981, as well as international conventions to which Mauritania was party. 9. National laws embodied the principles of liberty, justice and equality, nondiscrimination and tolerance, and respect for civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. Mauritania had ratified the main international human rights treaties, conventions and protocols and had submitted reports on their implementation. It had also responded positively to all mission requests made by special procedures mandate holders and had submitted reports to the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in 1999 and 2004; the Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2001 and 2009; and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in 2007. 10. With regard to visits by special procedures mandate holders, Mauritania had hosted the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in 2008, the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and its consequences, in 2009 and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in 2008, all of which had demonstrated the political will of the Mauritanian Government to overcome the challenges it faced. 11. With a view to protecting all rights, Mauritania had created a comprehensive institutional framework involving various ministerial departments and human rights institutions, in particular the Ministry of Social Affairs, Children and the Family, the Commission on Human Rights, Humanitarian Action and Relations with Civil Society, the Ombudsman of the Republic, the National Human Rights Commission, the National Commission for Financial Transparency in Public Affairs, and the National Council for Children. 12. The situations described in the national report confirmed the strong political will of His Excellency the President of the Republic, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, to continue the Government’s efforts to put an end to human rights violations, address unresolved humanitarian issues and overcome the legacy of slavery. The report also highlighted the Government’s determination to strengthen policies and programmes designed to build a State underpinned by a strong rule of law and founded upon justice and equality. 13. The country was also working to improve living and health conditions for detainees. Its penal policy focused on amnesty for convicts who fulfilled the necessary requirements. 14. In the area of good governance, significant measures had been taken to address problems of mismanagement by creating the National Commission for Financial Transparency in Public Affairs and the High Court of Justice, which was responsible for trying senior State authorities. The new policy was intended to guarantee an equitable redistribution of resources and the development of the country, which had been hampered by bad management. 15. Despite the efforts made to promote and protect human rights, Mauritania, like other developing countries, continued to face multiple challenges, particularly in the area of economic and social rights. Rapid development would be required if it was to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. B. Interactive dialogue and responses by the State under review 16. Algeria noted the consolidation of the National Human Rights Commission. It also noted that a de facto moratorium on the death penalty had been in place for 20 years, while sharing concerns regarding its abolition. Algeria also noted a 20 per cent quota for women 4