A/HRC/27/14 18. Ethiopia maintained an open door policy towards refugees and was hosting over half a million of them. It worked closely with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other United Nations agencies to provide protection and assistance to the refugees and mitigate the effects of hosting a large refugee population on the local host communities and the environment. 19. Ethiopia was determined to ensure that the fifth national election, to be held in May 2015, would be free, fair and credible. The National Electoral Board and the judiciary had developed innovative systems for handling grievances and complaints during elections. 20. Ethiopia pursued a rights-based approach to development, with the objective of reducing poverty. Per capita income had increased and the proportion of the population living below the poverty line and the food poverty index had declined significantly. 21. Rapid economic growth had also enabled Ethiopia to undertake massive public investments in the social and infrastructure sectors. Investments in the construction of new health facilities and the upgrading of existing ones, and in strengthening the implementation of the health extension programme had brought about significant improvements in the health and well-being of the people. During 2012/2013, primary health service coverage had reached 93 per cent, while significant progress had been made in improving maternal and child health. Ethiopia had already achieved the Millennium Development Goal target of reducing child mortality by two thirds well before the 2015 deadline. 22. Massive investments had been made in the expansion of primary, secondary and tertiary education. Primary education was free for all citizens. The primary gross enrolment rate had increased to 95.4 per cent, and over 17.3 million children had been enrolled in primary schools in 2012/13. That progress had brought Ethiopia closer to achieving the Millennium Development Goal target of universal access to primary education. The gender parity index in primary schools as approximated by the ratio of girls to boys had reached 0.94:1 in 2012/13. 23. Ethiopia had invested massively in road maintenance and construction, in potable water supply and in energy and irrigation schemes, which demonstrated the positive impact of the economic growth on improving the non-income dimension of its citizens’ welfare. In line with its focus on eradicating poverty, the Government had allocated a higher share of its budget to pro-poor sectors. 24. Since the first UPR cycle, Ethiopia had ratified the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict (OP-CRC-AC) and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (OP-CRC-SC). Ethiopia had also submitted implementation reports under the International Convention on All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), the Convention on All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), CRPD, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. 5