A/HRC/42/14 145. Lesotho noted the progress made in safeguarding the sexual and reproductive rights of women. 146. Libya welcomed the measures taken to strengthen national human rights institutions. 147. Lithuania noted the release of political prisoners, human rights defenders and journalists. 148. Luxembourg welcomed the considerable effort made in receiving refugees from Eritrea. 149. Madagascar noted that the family law provided for women’s enjoyment of equal rights. 150. Portugal acknowledged the significant measures taken to improve the human rights situation. 151. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela noted that education was given priority attention. 152. Qatar welcomed the Growth and Transformation Plan. 153. New Zealand recognized the progress made in opening civil and political space. 154. The delegation of Ethiopia stated that, over the past 20 years, the country had successfully implemented its strategy to expand and rehabilitate primary health-care facilities, which had led to improvements in maternal and child health and a steady decline in the under-5 mortality rate. However, much remained to be done to achieve universal health coverage. 155. Women’s concerns had been effectively mainstreamed into national programmes and development plans, as shown by the inclusion of women’s participation and benefit as a pillar in the second five-year Growth and Transformation Plan. In addition, a gender mainstreaming manual and a gender-responsive budgeting manual were developed. 156. All forms of discrimination, including gender discrimination, were prohibited by law. Policy and institutional measures, such as the Women’s Development and Change Strategy, had been introduced to protect women’s rights. The Strategic Plan for an Integrated and Multi-sector Response to Violence against Women and Children was being implemented, and various institutional bodies, such as child and women protection units in the police and justice bureaus had been established. The Proclamation on Civil Servants of 2017 explicitly prohibited sexual harassment in the workplace. 157. The national strategy on harmful traditional practices focused on eliminating child marriage, female genital mutilation, and abduction. The implementation of the Proclamation on Vital Events Registration, which called for the registration of all births, marriages, divorces and deaths was expected to aid efforts to eliminate child marriage. At the first Global Girls’ Summit, held in London in 2014, the Government committed to eliminate child marriage and female genital mutilation by 2025, and a road map was prepared for implementation. 158. Awareness-raising initiatives had been implemented to eliminate prevalent stereotypes of and stigma against persons with disabilities, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities had been translated into five local languages and distributed to the public. A landmark ruling by the House of Federation had upheld the right of visually impaired persons to serve as judges in law courts. Nonetheless, accessibility of social services to persons with disabilities and effective mainstreaming of the rights of persons with disabilities remained a major challenge. 159. A comprehensive national child policy based on the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child were being implemented. 160. National initiatives, such as the Urban and Rural Food Security Strategy, the National Social Protection Policy, the Urban Development Policy, the Productive Safety Net Programme, the Job Creation Strategy and the Household Asset Building Programme had contributed to food security and addressing malnutrition. Agricultural productivity had 9