A/HRC/37/16 39. Italy welcomed the approval of the national strategy for human rights and the related action plan, the constitutional amendments introduced to strengthen judicial independence and the intention of the Ministry of Health to abolish regulation No. 256, which listed 450 professions prohibited for women. 40. Latvia commended the level of cooperation between the Government and the human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine. It welcomed the adoption of the national human rights strategy and action plan, and reiterated its concerns regarding the human rights situation in eastern Ukraine and Crimea. 41. Lithuania stated that violations of human rights and international humanitarian law had become routine in Crimea and in Donbas. 42. Madagascar highlighted that, despite the difficulties faced by Ukraine in recent years, the Government had taken several steps to improve the human rights situation by ratifying several international instruments and undertaking constitutional and legislative measures on gender equality and against discrimination. 43. Malaysia commended Ukraine for its various efforts to promote and protect human rights, in particular the State social programme for combating trafficking in human beings and the good partnership forged between the Government and civil society in implementing measures to combat human trafficking. 44. Maldives welcomed the recent constitutional amendments enabling a comprehensive judicial reform process, and the national strategy for human rights for the period 2015– 2020. 45. Mexico welcomed the creation of the office of the commissioner for gender equality, and the amendment to the Labour Code explicitly prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the workplace. 46. Mongolia welcomed the amendments to the Constitution and other legislative and institutional changes. It encouraged Ukraine to provide the coordinating council on juvenile justice and the juvenile probation centres with adequate human and financial resources. Mongolia expressed concern about the prevalence of domestic and sexual violence in the country. 47. Montenegro welcomed the constitutional amendments that had created the legal conditions for comprehensive judiciary reform. It encouraged Ukraine to improve its efforts to conduct effective investigations of all acts of racially based discrimination and hate crimes, and to improve its juvenile justice system. 48. Namibia applauded the constitutional amendments that had provided a basis for a comprehensive judicial review process and had created the legal conditions for an independent judiciary, and noted the adoption of the strategy for poverty reduction for the period 2016–2020. 49. The Netherlands commended the State’s positive response to the recommendations it had received in previous reviews, and acknowledged its sustained efforts to implement reforms in a number of areas, including the judiciary. It called upon Ukraine to accelerate the pace of reform. 50. The delegation of Ukraine indicated that the Law on education guaranteed the right of national minorities to learn and study in their mother tongue in preschool and primary school, while also studying Ukrainian as a subject, and that bilingual education was available at the secondary level. It engaged in bilateral cooperation with neighbouring countries on the implementation modalities of the Law. 51. The implementation of the national immunization programme was a priority for Ukraine, which was providing vaccines through the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). A related action plan for the period 2017–2020 had been approved, containing an appeal to international organizations to provide Ukraine with a sufficient number of doses of inactivated poliovirus vaccine. Immunization against measles was also taking place. 6