A/HRC/17/15 practical expression to its commitment in domestic law. Niger was developing strategies for approval of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty. Moreover, it had just begun the process of ratifying the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance. 10. The Constitution of Niger proclaimed the country’s commitment to the values of pluralistic democracy and human rights as defined by the international and regional instruments mentioned above. The Constitution also guaranteed human rights, including the right to life, security of the person and privacy. 11. The representative of Niger said that those rights were also subject to specific laws, relating in particular to possible restrictions of those rights which might justify recourse to certain measures. Nevertheless, following the re-establishment of peace and stability in the country, the current authorities had set up a High Authority for National Reconciliation and the Consolidation of Peace. 12. The Constitution also guaranteed freedom of religion, expression and association, and exercise of those rights was governed by various laws and regulations. The right to information was guaranteed by law. The Transition Authorities had adopted a charter on access to public information and an order decriminalizing press offences, and the High Commissariat for Computer Science and New Information and Communication Technologies had been established. 13. Participation in public and political life was guaranteed under the Constitution subject to laws governing the conditions under which it was exercised. Access to justice was open and free of charge. Niger was endeavouring, in cooperation with its technical and financial partners, to make that access effective and to bring the courts closer to citizens by reducing litigation costs and improving the legal framework and the judicial system. 14. In the field of education, Niger had made great sacrifices in order to increase the enrolment rate at different levels of instruction. A ten-year educational development programme had been implemented to achieve Millennium Development Goal No. 2 and was demonstrating increasingly good results. The right had been enshrined in the Constitution, but the effectiveness of the commitments mentioned above was undermined by sociocultural constraints, inadequate financial resources, a weak infrastructure and a lack of qualified teaching personnel. 15. Niger had ratified 36 International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions, including the 8 basic conventions, and had endorsed the ILO decent work country programmes. Freedom of association was also guaranteed in Niger, which had some 10 trade union federations and 2 employers’ organizations. Niger had adopted a national employment policy framework document. 16. Niger had endorsed the health-related Millennium Development Goals. It had also adopted a health policy declaration, a health development plan and a road map for combating maternal and neonatal mortality. 17. In response to its repeated food crises, Niger had taken the innovative step of guaranteeing the right to food and access to potable water in its Constitution. Its goal was to achieve an 80 per cent rate of access to potable water by 2015. 18. The representative of Niger also reviewed the many activities designed to implement the specific rights of women, children and the disabled. In respect of women, the representative mentioned the 2008 national policy on gender, the 1999 national social development policy, specific measures criminalizing some forms of violence against women (slavery, female genital mutilation, trafficking in persons) and free-of-charge 4 GE.11-12306