A/HRC/11/37 Court of Human Rights, particularly those from the North Caucasus. The Government should prevent such obstruction of applications to the Court against victims, their families and legal representatives. It regretted that the threat to the independence of lawyers posed by the proposed amendments to the 2002 federal law on legal practice and the bar, which would grant the State registration agency power to initiate court action to remove lawyers’ licences, had not been addressed. It called for the withdrawal of the amendments. Also unaddressed was the practice of informal transfers of suspects from Russia to other members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, contrary to the non-refoulement obligation. The Commission asked Russia to invite the special rapporteurs on torture, executions, independence of judges and lawyers and the Working Group on enforced disappearances. 4. Concluding remarks of the State under review 335. The Russian Federation noted that accession to the second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights concerning the abolition of the death penalty would depend on the prevailing view in Russian society on abolition. It noted, however, that the death penalty had been de facto abolished since August 1996 and, since 1999, all prior death sentences had been commuted to life or 25 years of imprisonment. 336. It said that the ratification of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families required an in-depth study to determine the concordance of specific provisions with Russian legislation. With regard to the ratification of ILO Convention No. 169, it stated that current legislation in Russia on indigenous peoples was more progressive and better reflected the particular characteristics of the local situation. 337. The question of ratifying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court was being considered, guided by the notion that the decision to accede was the prerogative of the State and made in the State’s own interests. Many factors would be considered, including the initial results of the activities of the Court and outcome of the work to define the crime of aggression. 338. A draft law on the ratification of Protocol No. 14 was under consideration by the State Duma of the Federal Assembly. The preparation for ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages was being carried out in the framework of a State inter-agency working group that, together with the Charter secretariat, aimed to find modalities for the implementation of the Charter that would take into account Russian realities and the unique cultural and linguistic diversity of its people. 339. The delegation thanked the non-governmental organizations for their comments and referred to two meetings with civil society representatives held in the Ministry of Justice and covered by the mass media. After the universal periodic review, Russia planned to convene a working group on the preparation and presentation of the national report and on further steps for implementing the recommendations accepted. 340. Prior to the adoption of the outcome, Germany, on behalf of the European Union, stated that it was in favour of the adoption of the outcome of the review of the Russian Federation on the understanding that the formulation in paragraph 86 of the Working Group report would mean that the recommendations referred to in paragraph 54 did not enjoy Russia’s support. It considered the assessment contained in paragraph 86 factually incorrect, but respected the freedom of the Russian Federation to reject any recommendation made during the interactive dialogue of the Working Group. 341. The Russian Federation was of the view that it was not appropriate to discuss substantive issues at this stage and that its position had been clearly set forth in paragraph 86 of the Working Group report, which had been adopted by consensus. 110 GE.09-16766