A/HRC/42/7 of a national plan were under way. Furthermore, the 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment had concluded that Portugal was the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development country that had most improved its performance on migrant students in that decade. Foreigners benefited from the principle of equal treatment and equivalence of rights with national citizens regarding unemployment and health care. The one-stop shops project and the network of local centres contributed to support regularization for foreigners. 71. The number of asylum applications had risen from 706 in 2016 to 1,190 in 2018. Unaccompanied foreign minors were sent to residential homes appropriate to their needs, which helped to safeguard their best interests both administratively, through the granting of asylum, and judicially, through the protection of their rights. Portugal had signed the main conventions concerning statelessness and guaranteed stateless persons who were elderly, had lived in Portugal for five years and knew the Portuguese language the possibility of acquiring nationality. 72. Portugal had adopted several mechanisms to combat human trafficking, in addition to the Fourth National Plan against Trafficking in Human Beings (2018–2021). 73. Portugal had implemented the recommendations concerning racism and racial discrimination that had been made during the previous review cycles. Indeed, the Commission for Equality and against Racial Discrimination had strengthened its powers and the 2018 report of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights had highlighted that Portugal had the lowest rate of violence motivated by racism among the member States. The new Victim’s Statute enabled victims to report crimes or practices of racial discrimination at the migrant victim support units, in which victims received support free of charge. 74. The Choices Programme, now in its seventh edition, had achieved an overall school success rate of 81.3 per cent, thus promoting the inclusion of children living in vulnerable contexts, particularly descendants of migrants and of Roma and persons of African descent. 75. Efforts to combat racism, xenophobia and intolerance in schools had been strengthened through the publication of the National Education for Citizenship Strategy, the Exit Profile of Students Leaving Compulsory Schooling and a new curricular framework. 76. Angola commended Portugal for implementing policies aimed at the integration of migrants. 77. Argentina applauded the National Education for Citizenship Strategy and welcomed the endorsement by Portugal of the Safe Schools Declaration. 78. Armenia welcomed the enhancement of the legal framework on the prevention and prohibition of racism and policies to combat gender-based and domestic violence. 79. Australia took note of reports of obstacles in bringing to justice perpetrators of domestic violence, ill-treatment of persons in custody and discrimination against the Roma community. 80. Austria called for an improvement in the implementation of the legislation on gender equality and on the prohibition of racial discrimination, particularly by the security forces. 81. Azerbaijan noted the adoption of several comprehensive human rights policy instruments and commended Portugal for its efforts to eliminate discrimination against women. 82. The Bahamas noted the efforts in the area of social inclusion and integration of persons in vulnerable situations and the leadership of Portugal in promoting national mechanisms for reporting and follow-up. 83. Bahrain welcomed the development of national human rights indicators, while expressing concern about the lack of full implementation of key human rights commitments. 84. Bangladesh noted the adoption of several human rights instruments on combating trafficking in persons, migration, social integration, equality and non-discrimination. 7