A/HRC/12/50 that had made observations and recommendations. She stated that Uruguay had examined the 86 recommendations received during the interactive dialogue, and was proud to have accepted them all. 512. Uruguay wished to provide clarification on some recommendations, to brief about actions already initiated to respond to many of them, and to provide information on the road ahead. 513. With regard to the first recommendation requesting Uruguay to consider ratifying the UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education, Uruguay had indeed deposited the instrument accepting this convention on 3 May 2004, and as such, it had entered into force for Uruguay on 3 August 2004. 514. As requested in the second recommendation, Uruguay wished to report that it would sign on 24 September 2009 the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in New York. It also stated that it had submitted a revised report to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in July 2009. 515. Uruguay indicated that it had started to comply with its own voluntary commitments made during the Working Group session, including the submission of five reports to various treaty monitoring bodies – the Committee on Migrant Workers, the Committee against Torture and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination – and on the two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. 516. In accordance with recommendations 11 and 20, Uruguay had initiated consultations to establish a permanent inter-institutional high-level political coordination mechanism for the elaboration of human rights reports and follow-up to recommendations, including those emanating from the universal periodic review. As in the case of recommendations 10 and 11, the civil society would be directly involved in this mechanism. 517. At the regional level, Uruguay was committed to formulating human rights policies, and specifically supported the MERCOSUR high-level meetings on human rights, which were currently introducing reforms to its structure with the aim of improving it. 518. At the national level, Uruguay approved in 2008 its national human rights institution established in accordance with the Paris Principles. The new Government that would come into office in 2010 would put into effect this institution, to which 12 countries referred to in recommendations 8 and 9. A bill was also currently being drafted to harmonize the competencies of the national human rights institution with those of the parliamentary commissioner for prisons. 519. Uruguay wished also to refer to three fundamental issues which were part of the recommendations, and were also very important for the Government: the situation of persons deprived of their liberty; the situation of women and children; and the issue of discrimination. 520. Uruguay reported on measures taken to guarantee the rights of persons deprived of their liberty, making reference to, inter alia, two bills to reform the penal code and the penal procedure code. Uruguay recalled that, already in 2005, the current Government had declared a humanitarian emergency for the prisons. A plan to reduce overcrowding in the prison system was being currently implemented, which would also allow for the classification of people deprived of their liberty in accordance with international standards and to provide special attention to imprisoned mothers. The plan of action for the reform of the prison system was approved in June 2009; a new health-care system had already been put in place in one of the main penitentiary centres, and would be further extended to others. Specialized treatment for persons affected by HIV/AIDS and deprived of their liberty was also available. In 2009, the work and study programmes had been strengthened and an internal affairs department to investigate cases of ill-treatment had been established. 140