A/HRC/8/29 Page 4 16 women. An advisory body on human rights monitoring, early warning and assessment, the Committee is an independent institution whose mandate is to examine situations involving human rights violations, and to undertake any action it deems appropriate in that regard. The Committee prepares an annual report on the human rights situation for submission to the President of the Republic. 8. Moreover, the President of the Republic has introduced a multi-dimensional policy to promote sustainable development, which includes the reform of the State’s institutions; the reform of education; the repair of social damages done by the terrorism; and a comprehensive plan to further economic growth. Immediately after the beginning of his mandate, the President started a substantial and wide-ranging reform of the judicial system with a view, inter alia, to reinforcing the independence of the judiciary, reforming the penitentiary system and strengthening the principle of presumption of innocence. Notably, two organic laws, on the status of judges, and on the Supreme Council of the Judiciary, were promulgated. 9. The modifications of the Family Code, amended in 2005, corrected a number of injustices related to women, including the age of marriage and housing entitlements in case of divorce. The new Nationality Code rendered null and void the reservation expressed by Algeria on article 9 (2) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), thus making possible for Algerian women to transmit their nationality to their children. 10. The Minister continued by stating that the Government has implemented a national strategy to combat violence against women, ending in 2011. Gender issues indeed remain at the centre of the Government’s agenda: in this perspective, a National Council for the Family and Women was set up in 2006 with the task of proposing measures to consolidate the numerous initiatives in favour of women and to make them irreversible, also through the adoption of special temporary measures. The Minister also noted that the steady improvements in child and maternal health, should allow meeting the relevant Millennium Development Goals by 2015. 11. Since September 1993, Algeria has been observing a moratorium on death penalty and, since then, capital punishment is transformed into prison sentences. During the last session of the General Assembly, Algeria assumed co-authorship of the resolution on the moratorium and ultimately voted for the text proposed by the European Union. 12. With regard to torture, the Minister stated that this and similar practices are prohibited by the fundamental law in all places and circumstances. He also firmly denied the existence of secret detention centres in the country. 13. On the requests of visit by special procedures mandate-holders, he noted that a number of them have already taken place and others remain pending because they were made in a sensitive political moment. This issue may be reconsidered, bearing in mind the statutory right of each country to decide about the appropriateness of such visits. 14. The declaration of state of emergency was a step taken in the fight against terrorism and it will be revoked once the conditions that led to it will cease to exist. However, in spite of the state of emergency, democratic life went on steadily: regular elections were held, political parties and association continued their work, the press was free and citizens were allowed to travel with no restrictions. The Minister noted that Algeria has been calling, for more than two decades, for the signing, under the United Nations tutelage, of an international convention on terrorism, which would include a definition of this phenomenon.