A/HRC/8/32 Page 4 resources and the progressive realization of human rights. Socio-economic rights have been placed on an equal footing with the more traditional civil and political rights. Judgements emanating from the South African Constitutional Court dealing with constitutionally guaranteed socio-economic rights have led to the evolution of pioneering jurisprudence, which is well regarded by the international community. 6. The country is financially self-reliant in that it funds 99.6 per cent of its development expenditures. However, institutional and human capacity is not optimal in meeting all the service delivery goals contained in the Government’s policies and programmes. The legacy of apartheid continues to manifest itself in many fields of human and social endeavour. Equitable social development aimed at transforming South Africa, is a major long-term challenge. The Government’s efforts to stimulate the economy have been relatively successful in consistently maintaining overall economic growth above four per cent per annum, however, the economy still manifests major imbalances, especially between the wealth and quality of life of people in South Africa’s “first economy” (formal economy) and the poverty and lack of economic empowerment of people living within the “second economy” (informal entrepreneurial economy). Besides, structural unemployment remains high. A major contributing factor is the socially engineered educational remnants of the apartheid past which resulted in a significant number of economically active persons lacking the necessary capacity and needed skills to compete in the digitally advanced global economy. In its commitment to the practical achievement of all human rights, in particular social, economic and cultural rights and the right to development, the Government has entered into a social contract with civil society, the corporate sector and organized labour in a public-private partnership to generate the requisite domestic capital as well as to re-invigorate the economy to make this goal realizable. 7. To address the deep-seated inequalities and to bridge the socio-economic gap between the first and second economy, the Government launched a national framework, the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (ASGISA) aimed at addressing the challenges of poverty, structural unemployment, skewed income and wealth distribution. The ASGISA Task Force is led by the Deputy President and includes broad-ranging consultations with relevant ministries, provincial and local government, organized business and labour, religious leaders, youth, and women in various groupings and forums. The Joint Initiative on Priority Skill Acquisition (JIPSA) is aimed at addressing the acute shortage in designated skills required for optimal service delivery and economic development. South Africa has followed a coherent and structured approach to tackling poverty and underdevelopment by integrating measures into sectoral policies, strategies and budgetary allocations. South Africa has in some cases exceeded the targets it had set during the past 12 years in social service delivery (water, electricity and housing). The Government has been commended for its “indigent policy” that has allowed mass access to basic services within such a short period. The challenges to ensure effective service delivery are being addressed. In terms of regional partnership, as a member of the African Union (AU), during 2006 and 2007, South Africa participated in the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), an instrument voluntarily acceded to by member States of the AU as a self-monitoring initiative for good governance. The Government’s strategic approach to implementing the outcome of the APRM process will be to contribute to setting precedents in good practices by establishing benchmarks that can be used in future review processes. During the relatively short period as a constitutional democracy, the Government has signed, ratified or acceded to a substantive number of the major international human rights treaties without any reservations. South Africa has played an active role in the shaping of the international human rights agenda including the constant development of international human rights and humanitarian law norms and standards. In 2002 South Africa extended a standing invitation to the special procedures, and since issuance of this open invitation, many of them have visited