A/HRC/16/27 recommendations, which they will submit to the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other local partners.15 Obstacles to the implementation of existing recommendations 29. Besides the obstacles to the implementation of the recommendations on sexual violence listed in my previous report (A/HRC/13/64, para. 23), which have persisted during the last reporting period, some Congolese courts do not make full use of the judicial arsenal available to them.16 In some cases, the law has been misinterpreted and mitigating circumstances misunderstood.17 The situation of women will remain precarious as long as the State fails to tackle in earnest the social roots of sexual violence, i.e. women’s inferior social, economic and political status in Congolese society. D. Violation of economic and social rights and illegal exploitation of natural resources 30. It was recommended previously that the State party should take sufficient comprehensive measures to address the illegal exploitation of natural resources in the country, to increase transparency in its revenue collection and to allocate its receipts with a view to the progressive realization of human rights, particularly to guarantee free primary education to all children, ensure access to affordable basic health care and ensure that health centres and hospitals have the necessary human, medical and financial resources.18 Actions taken by the Government and the current situation 31. The submission by the Democratic Republic of the Congo of its combined second to fourth periodic reports to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights following a 21-year delay was a positive development. The Committee considers that impunity for human rights violations and the illegal exploitation of the country’s natural resources, including by foreign companies, constitute major obstacles to the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights. In its concluding observations adopted in November 2009 (E/C.12/COD/CO/4), the Committee requested the State party to take immediate steps, including legislative measures, to create and ensure effective domestic remedies for all economic, social and cultural rights. In this respect, I commend the commitment made by the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the universal periodic review to ratify the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.19 32. The standard of living of the Congolese people hardly corresponds to the country’s natural wealth, as is shown, inter alia, by the human development index, which measures the average level of human development in a given country from three key angles: health and life expectancy, access to education and a decent standard of living. The United Nations Development Programme has reported a decrease in this indicator for the country 15 16 17 18 19 10 See the press release issued on 13 October 2010 by the United Nations panel chaired by the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights. This has also been assessed in the report of the mapping exercise documenting the most serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed within the territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between March 1993 and June 2003 (sect. III, paras. 799–840 and 848–883). For example, on 7 July 2010 the Bukavu military court considered that the victim’s subsequent consent to marry the accused in a rape case was a mitigating circumstance. See footnote 1. A/HRC/13/8, para. 94, recommendation 7. GE.11-10197