A/HRC/17/12 64. Mauritius stated that the population, including young generations, was the greatest asset of Saint Kitts and Nevis and welcomed that the State had ratified CRC and strengthened its policy efforts to enhance child welfare. Mauritius noted Saint Kitts and Nevis’ commitment in promoting human rights in its national legislation despite challenges, notably in meeting reporting obligations. Mauritius made a recommendation. 65. Ecuador noted the efforts of Saint Kitts and Nevis to comply with international human rights obligations, in particular to harmonize its legislation with those instruments despite its limited economic and human resources. Ecuador made recommendations. 66. Norway noted the maintenance of the death penalty and its application. It welcomed training programmes to educate youth on gender equality. It was concerned at the high rate of teenage pregnancy but welcomed measures to secure the right of education for teenage mothers. Norway noted that Saint Kitts and Nevis had ratified CEDAW, and that consensual sexual relations between adults of the same sex were still criminalized. Norway made recommendations. 67. With regard to equal pay for equal work, the delegation reported that Saint Kitts and Nevis was passing a relevant act in 2011. As for compulsory education, the Education Act of 2005 made it compulsory for every child to attend school up to the age of 16. 68. The delegation stated that whether Saint Kitts and Nevis would accept States’ recommendations or not would largely depend on its ability to specifically address them in terms of economic and human resources capacity. The economic climate was adversely affected by the fact that Saint Kitts and Nevis was one of the world’s heavily indebted countries. The debt ratio was 185 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009, having declined by 15 percentage points in the same year. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had indicated that, as fallout of the financial crisis, the tourism industry had decreased by 5.5 per cent in 2009, with a projection for further decline in 2010. Moreover, the geographical location of the islands, being in the path of tropical storms, hurricanes and cyclones that crossed the Atlantic Ocean, increased the State’s vulnerability to those natural disasters. 69. Since achieving independence, Saint Kitts and Nevis had continued to make significant strides in multiple areas, thus graduating from a low-income to a middle-income economy. Its GDP per capita had exceeded US$ 10,000 by late 2010, and IMF reported signs of economic turnaround with a growth rate of at least 1.5 per cent. 70. That was due in part to the Government’s decision to embark upon a rigid campaign of prudence in the management of its expenditure, ever mindful of the challenges that confronted it as a small island developing State such as susceptibility to natural disasters and other shocks. It continued to implement fiscal policies to deal with the risks and economic challenges to ensure that the limited resources were allocated to areas with the greatest potential for economic growth. However, the debt service burden allowed little room for fiscal manoeuvring and for adequate responses to some of those demands. 71. The Government over the past decade had been committed to meeting the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. To date, it had made great strides towards their achievement, having developed programmes to address the most disadvantaged members of the society. 72. It must be emphasized that, although the Government was intent on fulfilling its obligations in the area of human rights under international treaties, efforts and resources had been focused on poverty reduction initiatives and strategies, sustainable economic growth and international competitiveness, which in the long term would stimulate and sustain overall social development. With the upsurge in crime, the Government had had to 12