A/HRC/44/5 75. Denmark welcomed efforts to improve women’s rights, and the criminalization of torture. However, it was concerned by the continued prevalence of female genital mutilation and sexual violence against women and reports of excessive use of force by the police. 76. The delegation of Guinea stated that the Government was looking at what it could do to ratify optional protocols and conventions to which it was not a party – which Guinea had pledged to do. It was, unequivocally, a critical priority for the President of the Republic. 77. The Government was examining issues faced by vulnerable people, women and children; action taken included the criminalization of marital rape. The national human rights institution would be restructured to ensure that it was consistent with the Paris Principles. The Government was ready to provide the national human rights institution with the resources needed to operate properly as an early warning institution and to continue to bring human rights violations to the attention of the authorities and the public. 78. The right to demonstrate was enshrined in the Constitution, and the exercise of that right was also set out in a number of legal texts, including the Criminal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure and the law on public order. There had been cases where people had been killed during authorized public demonstrations. Criminal investigation officers had been deployed to the field to document the cases. They had the difficult task of assessing the situation and investigating the incident in the middle of the demonstrations. The Government was currently doing everything it could to clarify what had happened with regard to the deaths at those demonstrations. All of the cases were under criminal investigation. The Government systematically appointed judges to get the evidence to clarify facts. It had asked for international assistance and partners had provided support. Currently, police officers were being trained to be able to faithfully clarify circumstances, especially in the area of ballistics, including to see where a bullet came from and who shot it. 79. A police officer had just recently been arrested during a demonstration because he had breached the instructions stipulating that no police officer was to go to a demonstration armed with a weapon, either real or fake. Some time ago, another police officer had been armed at a demonstration. He had felt trapped in the demonstration and, wanting to get free, he had shot his weapon in the air. He was arrested, prosecuted and sentenced to 10 years in prison. 80. There was a political will among the President and his Government to combat impunity. One challenge in the trial of the perpetrators of the human rights violations committed on 28 September 2018 had been the unavailability of a proper courtroom; one was currently being built. Another challenge was preparing the judicial officials psychologically and technically so they could conduct the trial properly. 81. The judicial officials had received support from bilateral and multilateral partners in terms of capacity-building, technical training and forensics to help them be able to properly carry out the court procedures and manage the stress. 82. Djibouti highlighted the creation of the Ministry of Human Rights and Civil Liberties and welcomed the accession by Guinea to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. 83. Egypt welcomed the reinforcement of the country’s institutional and legislative frameworks, including the establishment of a national human rights institution and its accession to various international human rights conventions. 84. Ethiopia expressed appreciation to Guinea for accepting almost all of the recommendations from the second cycle review. It took good note of measures such as the ratification of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the introduction of the Social Development and Solidarity Fund. 85. Fiji commended the adoption of the Criminal Code of 2016 and the Code of Military Justice of 2017, from which the death penalty had been removed, and the criminalization of torture and enforced disappearance. 86. France noted the progress made in the area of human rights in Guinea as seen in the abolition of the death penalty. However, it stressed that the situation remained worrying. 8