A/HRC/19/6 People with Disabilities, and that instrument has been tabled before Parliament for ratification. Further, the Government is considering becoming party to all outstanding international human rights treaties. 8. Swaziland acknowledged that the State had not met its reporting obligations under the international human rights instruments. For that reason, Swaziland requested technical assistance and capacity-building in the areas of treaty body reporting and following up on concluding observations and recommendations of special procedures and mechanisms of the United Nations, including national monitoring of the implementation of international human rights instruments. 9. Swaziland stated that, being a small and vulnerable economy, it had the added challenge of heightened exposure to external shocks. That had historically diminished the ability of the Government to efficiently underwrite some of the human rights that had financial implications. That situation had been further exacerbated by the prevailing global economic crisis. The crisis had triggered a slowdown and in some instances an outright retraction of the economic and social progress achieved by many developing countries during the past decades; that made the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals a difficult task. 10. In spite of the numerous economic challenges facing the country, Swaziland had continued to prioritize the provision of free primary education. In the grades where the Government did not yet provide free education, it offered free text- and workbooks, free stationery, free exercise books, school furniture, feeding programmes and improved infrastructure. However, its endeavour to ensure accessible education was negatively affected by the fiscal crisis that the country was experiencing. 11. In fulfilment of the right of access to health services, the Government had for the past 15 years provided free primary health-care services for the nation. Specific developments directed to increasing access to health included highly subsidized secondary and tertiary health-care services and highly subsidized specialist health-care services for the disadvantaged population through a special medical fund, as well as the decisions to keep the health sector as a priority and to spare it from the budgetary cuts. 12. To improve the quality of services provided to the nation, the Government revised the Essential Health Care Package in 2010, to be responsive to the present-day disease burden within the population. The Government had recently launched a programme for the provision of free medical treatment for the elderly. 13. With regard to food security, Swaziland was committed to ensuring that all its people had access to adequate quality food at all times in order for them to live healthy and productive lives. In 2008, the Government had adopted the Poverty Reduction Strategy and Action Programme (PRSAP), which presented a poverty reduction framework. Food security was one of the pillars of the framework. Between 2008 and 2010, the financial resource allocation from Government sources to the Ministry of Agriculture had increased from about 5 per cent to 8 per cent of the national budget. Also, sectoral policies had been developed to increase household and national food security. 14. With regard to the rights of children, the Constitution provides the legal framework for the protection of children. In 2009, the Government had adopted the National Children’s Policy, which was aimed at promoting, protecting and fulfilling the rights of all children in the country. In 2011, it had introduced to Parliament the Child Welfare and Protection Bill, intended to give effect to the provisions of the Constitution and the country’s obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Moreover, there were a number of social services for orphaned and vulnerable children groups. 4