A/HRC/8/31 Page 5 Nations Study on Violence against Children, the Netherlands developed the Action Plan on Child Abuse “Children Safe at Home”, with the objective to reduce the number of cases of child abuse. Activities are aimed at prevention, discovery, stopping and damage control. 14. The State Secretary for Justice addressed the written questions asked in advance by States. With regard to the question by Italy, she indicated that the Netherlands is currently preparing for the final decision-making on the establishment of an easily identifiable, effective and efficient national institution for the protection and promotion of human rights, operating in accordance with the Paris Principles. Several very valuable institutions are already active, such as the Data Protection Authority, the National Ombudsman and the Equal Treatment Commission. Careful consideration is necessary to decide on the most suitable place for this new institution within this existing field of institutions. 15. In response to a question by France on the signature of the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, the State Secretary for Justice noted that on 11 April, the Council of Ministers decided to authorize the Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the United Nations to sign this Convention. Regarding the question by the United Kingdom on the involvement of civil society in the preparation of the national report, the State Secretary for Justice noted that the Government consulted over 20 organizations representing ethnic minorities, women, children, refugees, aliens, homosexuals, detainees and many more. 16. In response to the question by the United Kingdom on measures concerning garments covering the face, the State Secretary for Justice informed that the Netherlands considers wearing clothing that completely covers the face as undesirable. Wearing such clothing impedes open communication between people and equal opportunities for men and women. It also hampers the position of women in social transactions. At the same time, wearing Islamic face-covering clothing such as the burka or niqāb is a form of religious expression, and religious freedom may only be restricted in specific and closely defined situations. 17. With regard to the United Kingdom’s concern about de facto segregation in the field of education, she confirmed that this is a serious problem and addressing it is one of the priorities of this Government. She noted that the establishment of a centre for mixed schools is one of the measures, but that there are others. In response to the question by Italy regarding human rights education, primary and secondary schools choose their own programmes and educational resources within the framework of the so-called attainment targets and examination requirements set by the Netherlands. 18. On the question by Sweden about violence against women, following the report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, she indicated that the Netherlands is working on a new action programme on domestic violence. Extra attention will be paid to prevention and early identification of domestic violence. Policy will focus on removing obstacles with respect to the exchange of information between professionals in the field of domestic violence. B. Interactive dialogue and responses by the State under review 19. During the ensuing interactive dialogue, a number of delegations welcomed the national institutional framework of the Netherlands as well as its commitment and achievements in the field of promoting and protecting human rights. The Netherlands was also praised for the high quality of its presentation and its national report, including the participatory and cooperative approach adopted for its preparation. Numerous delegations commended the Netherlands on its frank recognition of remaining challenges and issues. During the interactive dialogue, 37 delegations made statements.