A/HRC/28/82 right of Haitian citizens to vote and be elected in regular elections since 2011 (paras. 7, 10, 19 and 20). 22. The Committee also expressed concern about the following matters: incorporation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights into national law and its applicability in Haitian courts; the small budget assigned to the Office of the Ombudsman and the shortage of information on the implementation of its recommendations; gender equality; discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people; the withdrawal from the parliament’s agenda of the bill to ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the Covenant, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty; the Criminal Code’s definition of torture, which does not include psychological torture; violence against women, in particular rape; human trafficking, especially of child domestic workers; the situation of persons deprived of their liberty, especially those in prolonged pretrial detention; the dilatoriness and passive stance of the judicial system; interference by the executive and legislative branches in judicial decisions and the weak operating capacity of the High Council of the Judiciary; and the ongoing forced evictions of persons living in refugee camps (CCPR/C/HTI/CO/1, paras. 5, 6, 8, 9 and 11–18). 23. The Committee’s observations and recommendations are highly pertinent. Many of them are considered, by the Independent Expert and others, to warrant urgent priority action, in particular those concerning prolonged pretrial detention, the holding of elections, and the right to know the truth and to reparation and justice for victims of serious human rights violations in the past. The urgency attached to these matters should be taken into special account by the Haitian authorities. 24. The Government has expressed reservations about some of the Committee’s observations and recommendations, namely with regard to the Office of the Ombudsman, violence against women (rape), independence of the judiciary, protection of persons displaced by the earthquake, alleged violations of the freedom of opinion, expression, assembly and association, and participation in political affairs. 1 While respecting the right of Haiti to express its opinion on these matters, the Independent Expert invites the Government to use the recommendations of the Committee and other relevant bodies to strengthen safeguards and respect for human rights in its territory and to identify any obstacles it encounters in this regard. A. Economic, social and cultural rights and social inequality 25. As noted in the previous report, the full enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights in Haiti is severely limited by the country’s acute social inequalities. (i) Priority action to eradicate illiteracy 26. To tackle this situation of inequality, the Independent Expert had recommended that priority be given to ensuring the right to a quality education for all, without exception. The country should therefore focus all available resources on promptly eradicating illiteracy, which plagues more than half of the adult population. The literacy rate among Haitians aged 15 and older stands at 48.7 per cent according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).2 1 2 6 Response of the Haitian Government to the Committee’s concluding observations on the initial report. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Human Development Report 2014, Sustaining Human Progress: Reducing Vulnerabilities and Building Resilience, table 9 (“Education”); available at http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/hdr14-report-en-1.pdf (consulted on 26 January 2015). This table refers to the year 2013 although this is not indicated in the heading. GE.15-02042