A/HRC/11/20 Page 4 8. Azerbaijan has ratified most of the international and regional human rights treaties, including seven core universal instruments, recently signed the ICPPED, and ratified, in 2008, CRPD, OP-CAT and the amendment to article 20 (1) of CEDAW. 9. Azerbaijan highlighted that it accepted the individual complaint mechanism under relevant treaty bodies, and cooperated with special procedures and expressed its readiness to continue. Azerbaijan also cooperates with the Council of Europe and has ratified a series of conventions, including the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Convention on the Prevention of Tortur, its optional protocol and the revised European Social Charter. 10. Azerbaijan noted it takes all necessary measures aimed at strengthening the media. By law, printed media can be established without prior authorisation and a wide number are registered in addition to numerous televisions and radios operating alongside with many journalist NGOs. Azerbaijan adopted measures on providing financial assistance to news media. 11. The delegation referred to the 2007 strategic framework for State support of NGOs aimed at creating a stable and effective partnership between State bodies and NGOs, and noted the establishment of the Council for State support of NGOs. 12. Judicial reforms have led to the adoption of a series of laws for the democratisation of the legal policy and judiciary, the strengthening of the independence of the judiciary and the reinforcement of human rights protection in the Constitution. 13. Azerbaijan noted having set up a working group, together with the Council of Europe (CoE), aimed at improving the effectiveness of the judiciary, independence of judges and their election procedure. The Judicial and Legal Council Act and significant amendments to the Courts and Judges Act were adopted along with the establishment of a Judicial Selection Committee mandated to select judges. 14. Azerbaijan is working with the European Committee on the Prevention of Torture (CPT) to enhance the functioning of the penitentiary system. The Ombudsman can visit penitentiary establishments without prior notification. Over the past years, two divisions within the Ministry of Justice have been granted free access to penitentiary establishments, as well as NGOs and the ICRC. The last CPT visit was held in December 2008. Penitentiary staff are trained, in particular in the area of prevention of torture and cruel treatment and the 2006 European Penitentiary Rules were translated into Azerbaijani. 15. Azerbaijan has adopted various programmes to promote social and economic rights, such as the Poverty Alleviation and Sustainable Development for 2008-2015 and the Employment Strategy for 2006-2015. This resulted in a considerable increase in the GDP over the last 5 years, the creation of 766,000 new workplaces and a decrease of the poverty rate. In 2008, the part allocated to social maintenance in the national budget increased by 40 per cent. The delegation underlined that, in 2008, the World Bank declared Azerbaijan as the most active reformer country. 16. Azerbaijan stated that the Constitution guarantees the equality of all, irrespective of ethnicity, religion or race, and no instances of discrimination or intolerance against members from other ethnicities were observed during many centuries. This high level of tolerance was emphasized by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief and demonstrated notably through the 2002 visit of the Pope.