A/HRC/17/7 policies aimed at guaranteeing a high living standard, human dignity and freedom. It had also motivated the Sultanate to identify areas in which a greater effort was required to fully achieve its aspirations and ambitions. 10. In the past four decades, Oman had been laying solid foundations for a modern State based on citizenship, institution-building, the rule of law, justice and equality, as well as the cultural and civilizational values of Omani society. 11. Oman had ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and its two Optional Protocols; the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW); and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Oman was working to prepare its reports to the relevant treaty bodies. 12. Oman intended to consider signing additional treaties and review some of its reservations to articles of the treaties it has ratified. Oman announced that it had decided to withdraw four of its reservations to CRC and to limit the scope of its fifth and final reservation. Oman expressed its appreciation to the expertise of the different United Nations treaty bodies for their recommendations and the Special Rapporteur on the human rights aspects of the victims of trafficking in persons, especially women and children. 13. The legislative and institutional developments provided evidence of the fact that Oman had succeeded, in a relatively brief period of time, in establishing the requisite legal structure at the national level to embed human rights principles in its national legislation and its institutions. 14. Oman provided quantitative indicators of the advances made in the last four decades in the areas of education, health services, average life expectancy and average infant mortality. These achievements had resulted in being ranked as the first country in the world in terms of the pace of progress achieved in the areas of health and education, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 2010 Human Development Report. 15. The Omani Government had taken major steps, at the very highest level, to encourage women to pursue educational opportunities, join both public and private sector employment and become involved in all social and economic fields. Omani women occupied ministerial positions in the Government and senior management posts in business firms, serving in some cases as chief executive officer. With a view to supporting and consolidating these advances, 17 October of each year had been declared Omani Women’s Day. 16. His Majesty the Sultan, in his address on the occasion of the opening of the second session of the Consultative Council (Majlis el-Shura) in 1994, had called on “Omani women everywhere, in villages and towns, in urban areas and in the countryside, on the plains and in the mountains, to rally their forces and contribute to economic and social development, each according to her individual abilities, potential, expertise, skills and position in society”, adding that “the homeland needed all citizens to join forces in the onward march towards progress, growth, stability and prosperity”, and that women played a vital role in society. 17. Oman had updated its legislation and adopted numerous measures aimed at protecting the rights of the various components of the labour force. The Ministry of Labour, in coordination with representatives of the private sector and the trade unions, was keen to take advantage, on an ongoing basis, of the expertise of the International Labour Organization (ILO) so that it could take additional steps to update legal provisions and to implement best practices in order to safeguard the rights of employers and employees. 18. Oman had enacted the Law on Combating Human Trafficking and set up a national committee to prepare reports, draw up national plans, make recommendations and take the 4