A/HRC/10/29 526. Ukraine welcomed and thanked the delegation of Serbia for the comments and additional information provided on recommendations and the activities of the Government of Serbia aiming at their implementation. Serbia was commended for the efforts made in recent years aimed at protecting and promoting human rights and the progress achieved. As a member of the troika, Ukraine expressed its appreciation to Serbia for its openness in the review process and to the members of its delegation for the cooperation and constructive role that they had played in the preparation of the report. Ukraine noted with satisfaction that Serbia had adopted the majority of recommendations made during the review and welcomed its intention to ensure their full and effective implementation as well as measures already taken, and expressed its conviction that Serbia would make further progress. 527. The United States of America expressed appreciation that the Constitution of Serbia banned direct and indirect discrimination, and urged the Government to intensify its efforts to enforce this provision and hoped that Serbia’s establishment of a Protector of Citizens as an independent public authority would prove to be an important step in that direction. The United States expressed its continuing concern over the discrimination against minorities in education, employment, housing and health, but appreciated Serbia’s commitment to continue to take positive steps to promote equality and non-discrimination. The United States noted that corruption remained a serious problem in Serbia and recognized the Government’s efforts to bring several judges and prosecutors charged with corruption to justice. It noted as a positive development Serbia’s engagement with representatives of civil society in the reform of the judiciary and in legislative policy. It also noted that trafficking remained a significant problem in Serbia, and encouraged adoption of the draft amendment of the criminal code that introduces harsher punishment for traffickers. The United States shared the concerns of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression and opinion regarding the limitations on the independence of the media. It hoped that Serbia would adopt the recommendation of the Working Group to ensure that journalists were able to report on sensitive issues without fear of harassment or reprisal. Finally, the United States was of the view that Kosovo was independent and that Serbia did not exercise any governing authority over this territory, which should remain outside the focus of future universal periodic reports on Serbia. (c) General comments made by other relevant stakeholders 528. The representative of COC Netherlands and the Labris-lesbian human rights organization of Serbia indicated that, according to the Constitution of Serbia, everyone had the right to equal legal protection and non-discrimination, but that Serbia still did not have an anti-discrimination law which, like the gender equality law, was still pending. The representative recommended their early adoption, and recommended that discrimination based on sexual orientation be specifically prohibited in the Constitution, the criminal code and other laws. The representative commended Serbia for joining the statement delivered at the sixty-third session of the General Assembly, on sexual orientation and gender identity, and suggested that Serbia continue adopting and implementing policies in the spirit of that statement. The representative indicated that attacks and physical threats to LGBT persons and human rights defenders occurred on a daily basis. According to the Serbian criminal code, racial and other forms of discrimination were a criminal offence, but sexual orientation was not specifically mentioned and hate crimes were not legally recognized. 529. Interfaith International appreciated the good responses given by Serbia to recommendations and questions resulting from the review process. Nevertheless, the representative drew the attention of the Council to the precarious situation in which some retirees from Kosovo, who had paid contributions until 1999 in former Yugoslavia, found themselves. According to the representative, since the end of the war, those retirees had been deprived of their pensions for which they had paid during their labour life in a period of 15 to 40 years in the hope of ensuring a retirement in dignity. Since 2000, many 172 GE.09-17451