A/HRC/18/8 (sponsored by the Government of Netherlands), the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, the Regional Office for the Pacific of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Commonwealth Secretariat. 9. Of a most pressing nature was the need to ratify the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child which Solomon Islands had already signed, and which was a priority task in the Government’s work plan for 2011. 10. The delegation reported on its commitment and current efforts to submit its periodic reports to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Committee on the Rights of the Child, and acknowledged that on the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the Elimination All Forms of Racial Discrimination were due. The Government planned to set up a treaties committee to monitor its reporting obligations. 11. Although Solomon Islands was yet to fully implement the concluding observations from the Committee on the Rights of the Child of 2003, it had incorporated those observations into the National Children’s Policy. 12. As part of Pacific regional commitments, Solomon Islands had committed to the 2009 Pacific Islands Forum leaders’ Cairns Compact which recognized violence against women as pervasive and underreported. The Compact also recognized that sexual and gender-based violence was a human security issue and a destabilizing factor for communities and societies. The Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Reference Group to support national efforts had consequently been developed. 13. Solomon Islands was committed to the Pacific Plan, especially Strategic Objective 12.5, which outlined the region’s commitment to human rights through “treaty ratification, reporting and implementation” and the Pacific Regional Strategy on Disability. It was also committed to the principles of the Millennium Development Goals and the declaration on The World Fit for Children. 14. The bill of rights was entrenched in chapter II of the 1978 Constitution. The draft Federal Constitution had an expanded bill of rights which included civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. It also provided for a national human rights commission. 15. Solomon Islands had passed legislation, endorsed policies and set out action plans and guidelines to direct the implementation of human rights. Reference was made in particular to the Evidence Act 2009, which eliminated the corroboration warning in sexual violence convictions and the use of prior sexual conduct of complainants as evidence to question the character and credibility of complainants. In 2009, the Government had endorsed the Family Health and Safety Study which showed a very high prevalence of domestic violence, as well as a baseline report for creating a future free from violence, abuse and exploitation of girls and boys. It had also recognized the recommendations from a report on the commercial sexual exploitation of children in the presence of the logging industry. 16. In 2010, the Government had endorsed the National Gender Equality and Women’s Development Policy which provided overarching objectives for gender equality and women’s development, and the National Policy on Eliminating Violence against Women. The delegation reported on policies for the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, such as the National Children’s Policy (for ages 0–18) and the National Youth Policy (for ages 14–29). 17. Human rights were some of the guiding principles of the National Coalition for Reform and Advancement Government Policy for the next four years. The policy set out to promote social and economic advancements that ensured fair distribution and equal access 4