A/HRC/42/2 economic exploitation. A National Action Plan on the protection of children from economic exploitation had also been adopted. 404. Albania had reviewed its Code of Criminal Procedure, to bring it in line with international standards. In particular, it had significantly improved the rights of victims of criminal offenses, including special provisions for victims of trafficking in human beings. The National Action Plan for Combating Trafficking had incorporated special measures to protect children and women from exploitation and abuse. 405. The delegation also emphasized that Albania was undertaking a property reform through digitalization of immovable property registration system and functioning of the State Cadastral Agency. 406. Albania significantly improved its legal and policy framework for the protection of minorities by adopting a new law on national minorities. It was now working on the secondary legislation. To date, seven by laws had already been adopted. 407. With regard to the national mechanisms on human rights, the delegation emphasized the important role played by the Ombudsman and the Commissioner for Protection from Discrimination and their support in reporting under various human rights mechanisms. The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs had developed a Human Rights Action Plan and Monitoring Mechanism to facilitate the monitoring process of the implementation of universal periodic review recommendations from the second cycle. It was now preparing a new action plan to implement the recommendations from the third cycle. 408. The delegation expressed its commitment to present its mid-term report on specific recommendations. 2. General comments made by the national human rights institution of the State under review 409. The People’s Advocate of Albania (by video message) stated that improvements must be made with regard to the adoption of a comprehensive budget for children’s needs; development of inclusive social policies at the local level; capacity-building of the responsible authorities to implement children’s rights; establishment of specialized services for sexually abused children and making the school system fully accessible for children with disabilities. She also noted that persons with disabilities continued to face discrimination in education, employment, access to buildings, public services and independent living. The People’s Advocate was concerned that Albania’s legislation did not provide for proper solutions for restitution and compensation of property. The People’s Advocate also noted that gender-based violence, especially against women in the family, remained a widespread phenomenon. Creation of new shelters, consolidation of referral mechanisms, increasing access to justice, as well as prosecuting domestic violence in the full force of law were highlighted to be a priority. The People’s Advocate reported that the situation in Albania’s prison system continued to face problems related to poor infrastructure and living conditions, health care, as well as overcrowding. 3. Views expressed by Member and observer States of the Council on the outcome of the review 410. During the adoption of the outcome of the review of Albania, 13 delegations made statements.** ** The statements of the delegations that were unable to deliver them owing to time constraints which were made available are posted on the extranet of the Human Rights Council, at https://extranet.ohchr.org/sites/hrc/HRCSessions/RegularSessions/42Session/Pages/default.aspx 68

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