A/HRC/37/14 121. As expressly provided in the Constitution, Zambia was a Christian nation. The right to life of the unborn child was protected and such life began at conception. In that regard, safe abortions must be carried out in very specific circumstances, which were provided for in the Termination of Pregnancy Act and the Penal Code. 122. The death penalty was provided for in the Bill of Rights in the Constitution, which could be amended only by referendum. Strides had been made since 1997 in efforts to abolish the death penalty, which was why there had been no executions since 1997. In 2016, a referendum that could have led to the abolition of the death penalty had been held, but the people had rejected the motion and the Bill of Rights had remained unchanged. The President had commuted all death sentences in 2016 and, currently, there were some 174 inmates on death row, only 13 of whom had had their appeals processed. 123. In its efforts to abolish the death penalty, the Government was currently working on ways to amend the Penal Code so that the death penalty could be handed down at the discretion of judges, rather than being mandatory. In addition, the Government was carrying out awareness-raising campaigns and in due time, people would be ready to abolish the death penalty. 124. Efforts were being made to expedite the ratification of the treaties to which Zambia was not yet a party. Those efforts included establishing a database and enacting a law on the ratification of international agreements. 125. Zambia had received negative publicity, particularly by the international media, which had conveyed the perception of a deterioration in terms of enjoyment of the rights to freedom of assembly and of expression. The delegation requested its international partners to assist in reversing that perception. 126. The claim that the Public Order Act had been used to curtail opposition parties or dissenting voices was far from the truth. In the run-up to the 2016 elections, the number of ruling party meetings that had been stopped under the Public Order Act had exceeded the total number of all opposition party meetings that had been stopped. Several meetings had had to be put on hold by the Minister of Justice because the police did not have sufficient capacity to ensure peaceful assembly. The Government had a responsibility to maintain peace and order. 127. There were 123 private radio stations and 26 television broadcasting houses, which represented a significant increase over the past few years. The Independent Broadcasting Authority had revoked the licences of three broadcasting houses in order to investigate allegations of hate speech. Those broadcasting houses had apologized for their use of hate speech. Another incident had concerned The Post newspaper, which had been closed down by a court order due to its failure to meet its debts and tax obligations. 128. Over a 12-month period, there had been several incidents of arson, which had led to electricity disruptions and the destruction of markets. Article 31 of the Constitution of Zambia provided for measures to curtail such incidents. The application of that provision had resulted in a reduction in the number of such incidents. II. Conclusions and/or recommendations 129. The following recommendations have been examined by Zambia and enjoy the support of Zambia: 129.1 Accelerate the process of domestication of international human rights instruments to which it is a party (Zimbabwe); 129.2 Amend its national legislation to be in conformity with the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, including when revising the Bill of Rights and the Political Parties Bill, in order to protect and promote women’s rights and gender equality (Finland); 11