A/HRC/8/52 page 185 South Africa 562. The review of South Africa was held on 15 April 2008 in conformity with all the relevant provisions contained in Council resolution 5/1, and was based on the presentation of the national report made by South Africa in accordance with the annex to Council resolution 5/1, paragraph 15 (a); the compilation prepared by OHCHR in accordance with paragraph 15 (b) (A/HRC/WG.6/1/ZAF/2); and the summary prepared by OHCHR in accordance with paragraph 15 (c) (A/HRC/WG.6/1/ZAF/3). 563. At its 17th meeting, on 11 June 2008, the Council considered and adopted the outcome of the review on South Africa (see section C below). 564. The outcome of the review on South Africa is constituted of the report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review (A/HRC/8/32), together with the views of South Africa concerning the recommendations and/or conclusions, as well as its voluntary commitments and its replies presented before the adoption of the outcome by the plenary to questions or issues that were not sufficiently addressed during the interactive dialogue in the Working Group. 1. Views expressed by the State under review on the recommendations and/or conclusions as well as on its voluntary commitments 565. South Africa thanked the members of the Council and other participants for the active and interactive dialogue that was held on 15 April 2008, when the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review reflected on South Africa’s national report. South Africa remains indebted to all those countries which demonstrated a keen interest in the affairs of South Africa, particularly at this critical stage of its development. Challenges abound in South Africa, which is a young democracy. It grappled with the challenge of having to reverse, in concrete terms, the negative effects of institutionalized forms of racial discrimination and dispossession which lasted well over 300 years, under successive oppressive colonial regimes and apartheid. 566. The South African struggle over this dark period was primarily the struggle for human dignity and equality, for democracy and the rule of law and for human rights and fundamental freedoms. South Africa is proud of the successes registered in the 14 years of its young democracy. As a deliberate Government policy, it embarked on a National Programme through the Parliament to repeal all the discriminatory legislation and to put in place a broad range of legislation promoting equality and dignity. The Government also put a particular emphasis on the rights of the vulnerable groups in the country, which during the apartheid era had suffered from multiple forms of discrimination. 567. Most of the recommendations proposed for South Africa require serious contextualization. Most of the recommendations have already been implemented through national legislation and policy programmes. It needs to be pointed out that the issue of corporal punishment in the home is being dealt with within the broader range of legislation covering domestic violence, i.e. the South Africa Domestic Violence Act. The Government has set up one-stop service centres (Thuthuzela Centres) where survivors of sexual assault can report crime, access specialist investigators and prosecutors and obtain medical care and counselling. The Department of Social