A/HRC/31/6 courts, including one for the crime of slavery, and the creation of conditions for fair trials. Mauritania had also set up a High Council for Fatwa and Administrative Appeals, which issued advisory opinions on Sharia-related legal matters, and a national agency called Tadamoun for implementing programmes to combat poverty and the last remnants of slavery. 7. The delegation noted that an administratively and financially independent national mechanism to prevent torture had been created, a law criminalizing torture had been drafted and workshops to raise awareness on the prohibition of torture had been organized. Mauritania had also instituted the post of ombudsman and had published in the official gazette the texts of all the international human rights treaties to which it had acceded. The delegation recalled that Mauritania had engaged in constructive cooperation with all the international human rights treaty bodies, that it had presented a large number of reports to such bodies and that it had received visits from several special rapporteurs. 8. With regard to women’s rights, the delegation pointed out that Mauritania had adopted a national strategy for gender mainstreaming of all g overnment policies with a view to greater inclusion of women in the life of society and to combating stereotypes and violence against women. In addition, Mauritania had supported economic programmes to enable women living in cities and rural areas to become financially independent and to facilitate their access to health care, education and jobs. The policy on families had been updated, and the retirement age set at 60 for women working under a collective agreement. With respect to participation in politics , the delegation noted that Mauritania had adopted a number of measures to promote equality between men and women — for example, the designation of 20 seats as specifically reserved for women in elections to the national assembly. 9. The delegation noted that a national strategy for the protection of the child, an action plan against all forms of child labour and an action plan on the voluntary and definitive renunciation of female genital mutilation had been developed. 10. The delegation recalled that overcoming the vestiges of slavery and human trafficking was a priority for the Government, which had adopted an action plan to that end. A law criminalizing slavery and slavery-like practices, replacing Act No. 2007/048, had been adopted; a national day to combat the remnants of slavery had been inaugurated; a law against child labour had been adopted; school infrastructure in priority areas had been built; a system for allocating funding to support school enrolment for children from impoverished families or former victims of slavery had been set up; awareness-raising campaigns to dispel prejudices about slavery-like practices had been organized; a fatwa prohibiting slavery-like practices had been issued; and detention conditions had been improved. 11. On health, the delegation stated that health care had been expanded, medical services had been improved and relevant training provided. In addition, combating maternal and child mortality had become a public health priority. 12. The delegation emphasized that education was free of charge and compulsory for all children of school age and that over the three previous years, the school enrolment rates and levels of achievement for girls had been better than for boys. 13. The delegation also referred to the implementation of a national strategy to combat corruption; the Government was aware of the close link between the promotion of human rights and the proper management of public funding. 14. Concerning the implementation of the third phase of the Strategic Framewor k for Poverty Eradication, the delegation stated that it had permitted the growth rate to rise to 6.2 per cent. In addition, the national strategies for food security and rural 4/26 GE.15-22687