A/HRC/36/9 42. Mexico expressed concern about the change in the position of the United Kingdom with respect to some of the recommendations made by Mexico. 43. Mongolia noted the commitment to improve the well-being of children in disadvantaged situations, increased social welfare for persons with disabilities, and measures to combat domestic violence. It welcomed the Hate Crime Action Plan. 44. Montenegro welcomed progress in combating domestic violence. It urged empowering women towards equal participation, and enhancing gender policies, particularly in respect of black women, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender women, and women with disabilities. 45. The delegation stated that the United Kingdom was clear about its sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory and that no international tribunal had ever called its sovereignty into doubt. The Government strongly refuted Mauritius’ claim that the Archipelago which the United Kingdom administers as the British Indian Ocean Territory is part of Mauritius and the United Kingdom expressed disappointment that Mauritius was requesting a referral by the General Assembly to the International Court of Justice, which the United Kingdom believes is an inappropriate use of the International Court of Justice advisory mechanism. The United Kingdom remained committed to good faith bilateral discussions and was disappointed that Mauritius was not giving serious consideration to the two proposals that the United Kingdom had put forward. 46. The delegation indicated that the Human Rights Act made most of the rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights directly enforceable in United Kingdom courts. The Equality Act, which prohibited direct and indirect discrimination, had introduced a public sector equality duty. 47. Regarding concerns about the bill of rights proposals, the Government remained committed to reforming the human rights framework, and that would be considered once the arrangements for Brexit were known. The Government stated that it was willing to hear proposals for a Northern Ireland-specific bill of rights if sufficient consensus could be reached. 48. Regarding the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, the United Kingdom considered that its current domestic framework already included prevention of arbitrary arrest and prohibition of torture and degrading treatment, and held the security and intelligence agencies to account, therefore the Government was unclear about the benefits of ratifying the Convention. It also considered that the rights of migrant workers were already protected in its domestic legislation and therefore the Government was unclear about the benefit of ratifying the Convention on Migrant Workers. 49. The delegation stated that because the United Kingdom had no indigenous or tribal people, as defined in the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169), in its territory or in the Crown dependencies or Overseas Territories, the obligations of that Convention would not have a practical effect in the United Kingdom. It also explained that the benefits of the individual communications procedures remained unclear, as people in the United Kingdom had access to the application process to the European Court of Human Rights. 50. The delegation indicated that the United Kingdom was keeping under review all reservations on United Nations treaties. It also explained that the United Nations human rights treaties had not been incorporated into domestic law but that the treaties did not require States parties to do so. The United Kingdom had put in place a combination of policies and legislation to give effect to the United Nations treaties that it had ratified. The United Kingdom had signed the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (the Istanbul Convention) in 2012 and remained committed to ratifying it. It remained firmly committed to tackling violence against women and girls, including through new laws to ensure that perpetrators faced consequences for their actions and by increasing resources for victims. 5