A/HRC/8/32 Page 5 South Africa without any restrictions or impediments. South Africa is committed to address the recommendations made by them, within the constraints that it faces. 8. The South African Constitution makes provision, in its Chapter 9, for the establishment of a number of independent institutions to strengthen constitutional democracy in South Africa, which are actively involved in monitoring South Africa’s compliance with the international human rights instruments to which it is a party. The South African Human Rights Commission’s competencies and responsibilities are in full compliance with the Paris Principles. South Africa hosts the OHCHR Regional Office for Southern Africa, which covers the 14 countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. It has also regularly contributed financially to OHCHR and supported important funds and programmes of OHCHR aimed at globally advancing the cause of human rights. A noteworthy achievement in South Africa’s portfolio of constitutionally guaranteed rights is the Housing Policy and Strategy for South Africa, built on a national consensus in 1994. The construction of 2,355,913 houses over a period of 12 years has been recognized by UN-Habitat as “unprecedented both nationally and internationally”. In South Africa’s estimate, more than 9 million people in both urban and rural areas have benefited from the programme by receiving a fixed asset, security of tenure, basic services such as water and sanitation and basic shelter. 9. South Africa is one of the few countries in the world that recognizes access to water as a basic human right, taking into account the fact that access to water was one of the defining racial divides of the apartheid regime. Since the implementation of a free basic water supply to the indigent began in 2003, 66 per cent of the served population has been catered for by the end of April 2004. Thus South Africa has already achieved the Millennium Development Goal by halving the water backlog since 1994. The percentage of the rural population with access to a basic supply of water has increased from 51 per cent to 64 per cent in a period of three years between 2001 and 2004. A significant characteristic of South African society is its racial, ethnic and cultural diversity. The Constitution provides that everyone is equal before the law and is protected against any unfair discrimination. To promote the achievement of equality, the Government has enacted legislative and designed specific measures in order to protect or advance persons, or categories of persons, disadvantaged by unfair discrimination. The Employment Equity Act, 55 of 1998 and the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act, 4 of 2000 both give effect to the value of equality which lies at the heart of the Constitution. The Constitution guarantees equality between men and women and prohibits discrimination on the basis of, inter alia, sex, pregnancy and marital status. Gender equality and provisions for affirmative action have also been constitutionally entrenched. Women’s participation in political processes and decision-making is evidenced by their representation in parliamentary structures and ministries at more than 30 per cent. However, deeply entrenched patriarchal, customary, cultural and religious practices still result in discrimination against women. 10. South Africa’s ratification at an early stage of both the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocol thereto on 30 November 2007, speaks of the importance attached by the Government to the position of persons with disabilities in society. At present, the Office on the Status of Disabled Persons in the Presidency is reviewing the National Disability Policy Framework. Some of the best practices in South Africa include the development of a socio-economic jurisprudence. Judgements delivered by the South African Constitutional Court relating to constitutionally guaranteed socio-economic rights have been acknowledged by constitutional lawyers and researchers as pioneering jurisprudence that is evolving in South Africa. South African case law is currently being used at the international level to give impetus and momentum to the strengthening of the international human rights instruments dealing with economic, social and cultural rights. Leading decisions include the Grootboom case that dealt with