A/HRC/21/3 8. Morocco has attached special importance to the implementation of the recommendations made during its first review and responded to all those which were accepted. It ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and its Optional Protocol, the First and Second Additional Protocols to the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. 9. Furthermore, Morocco has already launched the process of ratification or adhesion to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT), the First Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil Political Rights, and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. It also signed the Third Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on communications procedure, and embarked upon procedures to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. 10. Moreover, it withdrew its reservations to the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which have become obsolete given the legislative reforms made, namely the Family Law and Nationality Act. 11. Morocco ensured that the measures and actions to prevent torture were strengthened in law and practice and that prison conditions were improved. It also saw to it that the Equity and Reconciliation Commission recommendations were implemented, particularly those related to truth, individual and community reparations, as well as the judicious recommendations on institutional and legislative reforms, which were all enshrined in the new Constitution approved by popular referendum on 1 July 2011. 12. Considering the fact that some recommendations fall within the reform process, especially those related to the promotion of human rights, human rights education and training, protection of the rights of migrants and completion of the harmonization of national laws with international human rights standards, Morocco embarked on its implementation, based on strategic human rights planning, pursuant to the 1993 Vienna Conference recommendation in this regard. This concerns mainly the elaboration and start of implementation of the Platform for Promotion of the Human Rights Culture and the elaboration of the National Action Plan on Democracy and Human Rights. 13. It should be noted that attention was accorded tothe recommendation on the adherence to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The new Constitution provides for the criminalization of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and all systematic and serious human rights violations. In addition, several crimes provided for in the Rome Statute are included in the Moroccan draft criminal code. Curbing impunity is also considered a strategic choice, which would enable the Kingdom to adhere to the international justice system. 14. Morocco has been engaged in a comprehensive reform process which culminated in the adoption of the new Constitution, whose guiding principles are the Royal Address of King Mohammed VI dated March 6, 2011. All the concerned stakeholders were involved in this drafting process which was a major step to ensure a real and effective democratic transition. 15. Human rights are the backbone of the new Constitution. They appear in all its chapters, including its preamble which is an integral part thereof. The new Constitution enshrines the concept of participative democracy, through the broadened pluralist and citizenship participation in political life and in the management of public affairs. With a view to consolidating democracy and giving a concrete content for the human rights protection guarantees, the new Constitution outlines key provisions on the separation and 4