A/HRC/10/29 504. The only recommendation with relevance to the situation of women that Liechtenstein could not accept concerned the call for an ex officio prosecution in respect of all forms of domestic violence. In this regard, the delegation explained that, in 2007, the introduction of a new explicit criminal provision on stalking had been approved by Parliament. It was a criminal offence to harass a person persistently and for a prolonged period in a way that was likely to seriously disrupt her or his way of life. This new provision made an important contribution to the prevention of violence against women since it allowed the police to intervene already at a very early stage and to prevent threatening behaviour from turning into an act of violence. This criminal offence required a complaint to be made by the victim for the prosecution to be initiated. The same was true for rape in marriage and partnership as well as other forms of domestic violence penalized under the criminal code. Since a procedural distinction between stalking and comparable forms of domestic violence would undermine the effectiveness of this new provision of the criminal code, the Liechtenstein authorities did not intend to establish ex officio prosecution for all acts of domestic violence. 505. Liechtenstein could therefore not support this recommendation, as one of eight recommendations that Liechtenstein could not accept. As underlined by the delegation, 32 of the recommendations could, however, be accepted or had been converted into voluntary commitments, which corresponded to a ratio of accepted to rejected recommendations of 4 to 1. 506. The delegation stressed that Liechtenstein continued to follow up on its commitment in respect of international cooperation despite the financial and economic crisis. In particular, since December 2008, UNRWA was supported by 100,000 Swiss francs for its emergency relief in Gaza. ICRC was supported by 200,000 Swiss francs for its activities in Uganda and the Philippines. Another support of 100,000 Swiss francs went to a basic health programme in Zimbabwe, while 100,000 Swiss francs had been contributed to the Common Humanitarian Action Plan for Sri Lanka. Moreover, 100,000 Swiss francs went to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre and 50,000 to the ICRC fund for mine victims. 507. In conclusion, the delegation referred to the written replies to the recommendations provided by Liechtenstein several days before the meeting, which it did not intend to read out to save time for the dialogue. (b) Views expressed by Member and observer States of the Council on the review outcome 508. Germany thanked Liechtenstein for its outstanding constructive approach to the recommendations. Liechtenstein had set a benchmark on how to deal with recommendations, by accepting and supporting many of them, by converting others into voluntary commitments, and mostly by giving detailed reasoning for those recommendations that could not be accepted. (c) General comments made by other relevant stakeholders 509. Amnesty International welcomed many of the recommendations made by States during the review, especially that efforts be continued to eliminate all forms of discrimination, to draft a law establishing registered partnership for same-sex couples, and to ensure the full implementation of the national plan of action against racism. It further welcomed Liechtenstein’s support of these recommendations. It regretted, however, that Liechtenstein had rejected the recommendation made by several States to establish an ombudsman or national human rights institution in accordance with the Paris Principles. Notwithstanding the comments by Liechtenstein in the addendum, Amnesty International considered that such an institution would be an important step towards improving the coordination on human rights policy between the different institutional levels. Referring to the call made by several States for measures to strengthen the integration of foreigners, 168 GE.09-17451

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