A/HRC/42/43/Add.1 18. The National Human Rights Education Plan was launched in August 2017. It seeks to build a human rights culture encompassing the dignity of all and respect for one’s own and other people’s human rights; to guarantee an environment of coexistence and learning in human rights-based educational communities; to raise awareness among, train and involve stakeholders who are strategic by virtue of their multiple capacities or the particular relevance of their specific characteristics; and to create and strengthen the institutional framework for human rights education. 19. Uruguay adopted a National Ageing and Old Age Plan 2016–2019, which contains public commitments to take specific actions to guarantee access by older persons to their rights. Uruguay consulted older persons when drafting the plan, and in 2018, work was done to develop indicators to monitor its implementation. This involved collecting information from the institutions involved and preparing a public progress report on issues including awareness, effective exercise of rights and institutional strengthening. It also brought to light differences in the approaches to ageing taken by State institutions and the gaps in protection, thus strengthening the leverage of the National Institute for Older Persons (Instituto Nacional del Adulto Mayor en el Uruguay (INMAYORES)) to advocate for a human rights-based approach. 20. While the responsibility for older persons cuts across a number of ministries and local authorities, the National Institute for Older Persons is the lead agency on older persons in Uruguay and operates under the umbrella of the Ministry of Social Development (MIDES). It is the State’s policymaking and analytical institution on ageing and old age, and is responsible for the planning, design, execution and evaluation of national policies related to older persons, and for promoting their full development and social and economic integration. Its activities include training health workers and older human rights promoters in other fields. It also has programmes to address domestic violence and social vulnerability and to foster a positive image of old age. It addresses long-term and home care and care for older persons suffering from dementia. 21. As part of the National Institute, Uruguay also created a Consultative Council composed of representatives from organizations of older persons, such as the National Network of Organizations of the Elderly (REDAM) and the National Organization of Retirees’ and Pensioners’ Associations of Uruguay (ONAJPU), representatives of the authorities, notably the Ministry of Health and the Social Security Bank (Banco de Previsión Social) and representatives of academia, such as the Chair of Geriatrics and Gerontology of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of the Republic. 22. In 2006, the Human Rights Unit of the Ministry of Education and Culture was elevated to the status of Department. The Department is responsible for promoting enjoyment of and respect for human rights, considered in a comprehensive and interdependent manner, including civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights, as well as collective rights such as the right to peace, to development and to the environment. Moreover, an advisory service on fundamental rights was established under the Ministry of Labour and Social Security with responsibility, inter alia, for countering all forms of discrimination. 23. The Human Rights Secretariat of the Office of the President of the Republic is the lead agency for the human rights components of public policy within the executive. It is led by a governing board composed of the secretary of the Office of the President, who acts as chair, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Education and Culture, the Minister of the Interior and the Minister of Labour and Social Development. 24. The National Human Rights Institution and Ombudsman’s Office of Uruguay (INDDHH) was established within the legislative branch under Act No. 18446 of 18 December 2008 to defend, promote and protect to the fullest extent possible the human rights enshrined in the Constitution and in international law. According to that Act, it carries out its work in an independent manner, without receiving instructions or orders from any authority. It has the power to receive, hear and investigate allegations of human rights violations, either on request or at its own initiative, in accordance with the procedure set forth in the Act. 5