A/HRC/13/56 578. The Government was committed to the international principles of human rights, social justice and equity; however, it was constrained by the absence of resources, both technical and financial, to meet its commitments (a) to give domestic legal effect to international human rights norms and standards as contained in the United Nations conventions, and (b) to submit reports to the respective bodies in a timely manner. 579. Dominica called on the United Nations, and in particular on OHCHR, to provide technical and financial resources to assist it to meet its commitments, especially those currently outstanding. This would enable the Government to make a plan for the submission of all overdue reports to treaty bodies. In that regard, the Permanent Representative reported that the United Nations Development Fund for Women was currently providing assistance for reporting under the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, and that efforts were made to meet reporting obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. 580. With regard to the recommendation relating to the ratification of the second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Representative recalled that Dominica, as an English-speaking Caribbean country, had not abolished the death penalty, although there had been a self-imposed moratorium on the use of the death penalty since 1986. 581. The current law on the death penalty was based on the 2003 ruling of the Privy Council of England, the final court of appeal for Dominica, which made the death penalty the maximum penalty for murder, to be imposed only for the most serious killings, rather than as a mandatory penalty. 582. While the death penalty had not been used in Dominica since 1986, there was a popular sentiment in the country in favour of reinstating executions for persons convicted of murder. The Cabinet of Dominica had indicated that, as a democratically elected Government elected by the people to represent the people, the laws it would submit to the Parliament should, to the extent possible, reflect the sentiments and desires of the people. The Government decided to maintain the death penalty in its legislation. 583. As a signatory of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, signed on 30 March 2007, the Government of Dominica remained committed to the full inclusion of persons with disabilities into the mainstream, and efforts had been made to ratify the Convention. There had been a series of stakeholder and wider public consultations. Based on the plan of action, the ratification process would be completed in the next three months, although, owing to resources constraints, Dominica faced difficulties in meeting the spirit and obligations of the Convention. 584. With regard to discrimination based on sexual orientation, the Constitution of Dominica guaranteed the protection of all citizens from discrimination based on their race, place of origin, political opinions, colour, creed or sex. The Constitution also provided for a legal mechanism to be utilized by persons who felt discriminated against. The Government promoted non-discrimination against all its citizens, and called on institutions and individuals to do the same. It also recognized that laws were to be enforced and could not be seen to condone the violation of the law. Through its national HIV/AIDS programme, Dominica provided support for persons who had been infected and affected by the disease. This was done without any request for the disclosure on the part of the victim of their sexual orientation. 585. The position of the Government of Dominica remained the same with regard to the criminalization of sexual relations between consenting adults of the same sex. The laws of Dominica, which have been on the statute books since colonial times, remained unchanged. The Government was not prepared to introduce to Parliament any legislation to decriminalize sexual relations between consenting adults of the same sex. Thus, it was 167