A/HRC/38/9 Labour Board or the Ministries of Education or Health, indicating that no such cases were before the judiciary. 11. The national community of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex persons had a platform on which members represented their groups in a number of national and regional organizations. Moreover, persons in same-sex relationships were able to avail themselves of the regular protection and remedies available under the law. 12. The Bahamas had signed and ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in September 2015. That same month, it had also acceded to two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child: on the involvement of children in armed conflict and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. 13. The Bahamas was initiating the necessary steps to ratify the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. 14. At present, it was not in a position to ratify the first Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the third Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure, both of which made provision to receive complaints from persons within the jurisdiction. 15. With respect to accession to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, it was unable to accede until it was in a position to remove its reservation to article 29 and therefore render the complaints process effectual. 16. Moreover, the Bahamas was not in a position to ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty, which remained lawful for certain crimes. 17. The Bahamas recalled the establishment, in June 2015, of the National Reporting Cooperation Mechanism. That body, comprised of representatives from nine different government agencies and two persons from civil society, had been successful in drafting a master framework for the scheduling, preparation and submission of the required reports. 18. The Bahamas recalled the submission, in April 2017, of its sixth national report on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Drafts were available for the outstanding reports for several human rights instruments, and the Bahamas committed to submitting most of those reports in the following months. 19. The reports on its implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography were being drafted. 20. The Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences had visited the country in December 2017. A preliminary report had been shared at the conclusion of her visit. The Bahamas welcomed the final report, which was to be presented to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-eighth session. 21. The Bahamas had tabled the Ombudsman Bill, 2017. The Office of Ombudsman was designed to provide a direct source of relief wherever people had legitimate grievances due to the actions or inactions of the Government or any agency thereof. 22. A Bill establishing the first-ever Integrity Commission had been tabled in the House of Assembly. 23. Moreover, the Bahamas had facilitated Orange Day to commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women to raise awareness about violence against women and girls. It had further observed the 16 Days of Activism against Genderbased Violence, which had been implemented in partnership with several non-governmental organizations (NGOs). 24. The Bahamas provided statistics to illustrate the effectiveness of the Swift Justice initiative: in 2015, 232 matters had been disposed before the Supreme Court — 114 more cases than in 2012. 3