A/HRC/32/8 13. Belgium paid particular attention to combating poverty and had developed tools to better target poverty reduction measures, such as the inter-federal poverty barometer. To strengthen the focus on children’s rights in this context, a national plan to combat child poverty had been approved in 2013. A second plan would shortly be finalized. 14. With regard to asylum, the Minister said that every asylum seeker could submit an application, in accordance with the international conventions in force. Applicants were informed of their rights throughout the process. Legislation had been amended in an effort to address certain shortcomings identified by international and national courts. The new Federal Migration Centre took an active approach to ensuring respect for human rights under its reception policy. Specific measures had been adopted to protect women and children. Reforms had also been introduced to ensure that minors were no longer held in secure centres. Secure centres were solely used subject to international law for specific cases governed by law. 15. Like many other member States of the European Union, Belgium had experienced a significant increase in the number of asylum applications lodged during the second half of 2015. Considerable efforts had been made within a very short time frame to strengthen reception capacity. The number of places in the reception network had thus risen from 18,000 places in June 2015 to nearly 33,500 places by the end of December 2015. 16. Since 2011, Belgium had maintained its strenuous efforts to combat trafficking in persons. A new national action plan for the period 2015-2019 had been adopted in 2013, as well as three criminal laws, which expanded the scope of application to all forms of sexual exploitation and increased the number of judicial tools available to combat this scourge. 17. Two projects were being developed by the current Government. The first was the outline of a national plan on “human rights and businesses”, which was due to be adopted shortly. The second was the establishment, scheduled for the end of this parliamentary term, of an independent national human rights mechanism, in accordance with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (Paris Principles). Belgium had many instruments related to such a mechanism, including the National Commission on the Rights of the Child, the Centre for Equal Opportunities and mediation services that were independent of the Executive. The first challenge would therefore consist in integrating the various existing instruments into a coherent whole and adding activities in areas that had not yet been addressed. 18. Although minorities benefited from many national and international protection mechanisms in Belgium, the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, to which Belgium, as well as other countries, had made a reservation, had not yet been ratified. The reservation made by Belgium was as follows: “The Kingdom of Belgium declares that the Framework Convention applies without prejudice to the constitutional provisions, guarantees or principles, and without prejudice to the legislative rules which currently govern the use of languages. The Kingdom of Belgium declares that the notion of national minority shall be defined by the inter-ministerial conference of foreign policy”. This issue fell under the remit of federal and federated entities. To date, no agreement on a definition had been agreed in Belgium between the various authorities responsible for assenting to the text. A working group was charged with addressing this issue, in particular with a view to defining the concept of minorities. Since Protocol No. 12 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (European Convention on Human Rights) aimed at eliminating all forms of discrimination had not yet been approved by all entities, Belgium was unable to ratify it. The Flemish Government wished to await the jurisprudence of the European Court regarding the scope of this Protocol. GE.16-05884 5