A/HRC/36/6 constitutional bodies to protect and strengthen human rights, as well as to promote good governance and participatory democracy. 10. The legislative and institutional reforms in the area of civil and political rights had led to the adoption of the code on the press and publishing, the framework law on persons with disabilities, the law against trafficking in human beings and the law establishing the Advisory Council on Family and Childhood. Furthermore, draft laws on combating violence against women, the Criminal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Code of Civil Procedure had also been drafted. 11. On the basis of the conclusions of the national dialogue launched by the Government under the theme “civil society and its new constitutional roles”, a web portal had been created to consolidate good governance and transparency and to strengthen equal access by civil society organizations to information on the possibilities of public funding. 12. The number of declared associations had reached 130,000 in 2015, covering social categories of persons from different regions of the country, and around 4,000 activities were organized by associations each day. 13. In the area of migrants’ rights, Morocco had adopted a new policy on immigration and asylum that focused in particular on regularizing the situation of migrants in an irregular situation and asylum seekers. The policy had resulted in a readjustment of the legal framework relating to immigration and asylum, as well as the elaboration and implementation of strategies for the integration of migrants and refugees. 14. The first phase of efforts to regularize the situation of migrants had been launched in 2014 as an innovative initiative in the southern Mediterranean and had resulted in the regularization of the situation of 23,097 migrants. 15. The second phase of the exceptional regularization process had been launched in December 2016. The Moroccan authorities had thus been able to grant refugee status to 734 asylum seekers of different nationalities. In addition, 25 associations of migrants had been recognized, which had facilitated their access to financial support for the promotion and protection of their rights. 16. Morocco had developed public policies relating to the rights of special categories of the population. Particular attention had been paid to strengthening women’s rights and equality through the adoption of the law establishing the Authority for Gender Equality and Action against All Forms of Discrimination. The reforms had contributed to improving women’s political participation and to strengthening women’s representation in communal, regional and legislative elections. The representation of women in the House of Representatives had grown from 67 in 2011 to 81 in 2016. 17. Morocco had extended the scope of its National Initiative for Human Development by implementing five programmes aimed at combating poverty, vulnerability and social exclusion. Since the National Initiative had been launched, 44,000 projects had been carried out, benefiting 10 million persons. Efforts had been reinforced by a new initiative for the development of the southern provinces, with a budget of DH 77 billion. 18. As part of its legislative and institutional reforms, the Government of Morocco had promoted the Interministerial Delegation on Human Rights to the rank of Ministry of State. The purpose of that decision was to strengthen coordination at the ministerial level and give particular attention and priority to human rights. Morocco had also adopted an integrated human rights policy promoting a participatory strategic vision and a national action plan on democracy and human rights. 19. Collaboration had been strengthened with the National Human Rights Council and its regional commissions, particularly with regard to the receipt of complaints and grievances. A bill had been drafted to confer to the National Council the prerogatives of the national mechanism for the prevention of torture, the national mechanism on reparations for children who have been victims of violations and the national mechanisms charged with following up on the implementation of conventions to which Morocco was a party. 20. According to the delegation, freedom of association was a fundamental freedom, guaranteed by the Constitution of 2011. The law governing freedom of association, 3