A/HRC/23/53 C. Cooperation with human rights mechanisms 27. Eritrea has a mixed record of engagement with United Nations and African Union human rights mechanisms. It has ratified and/or acceded to a significant number of international human rights instruments, namely the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. 28. The core treaties to which Eritrea is not a party include the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 29. Eritrea participated actively in the sixth session of the universal periodic review, in November 2009. A high-level delegation from Eritrea attended the session in Geneva and provided responses to the 131 recommendations in writing prior to the consideration of the review outcome by the Human Rights Council at its in thirteenth session, in March 2010, accepting almost 50 per cent of all recommendations made. The Government has reportedly taken steps for follow-up to the review, including by sending all recommendations made at its review to relevant ministries, calling for their implementation, while the United Nations country team is engaging with the Government with regard to follow-up. 30. Eritrea is due to undergo its second universal periodic review in January 2014, an opportune platform to engage positively on the situation of human rights and for the country to illustrate the concrete steps that it has taken to improve its human rights record. 31. Eritrea has not issued a standing invitation and has not agreed to any of the pending visit requests made by five special procedures mandate holders of the Human Rights Council. These include the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression (invitation requested in 2003, renewed in 2005); the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief (2004); the Special Rapporteur on the right to food (2003); the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (2005, 2007 and 2010); and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions (2010). 32. Eritrea is a party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, both ratified in 1999. In 2003, the African Commission made a pronouncement on the case of 11 former officials of the Government of Eritrea detained in 2011, stating that Eritrea had violated articles 2 (freedom from discrimination), 6 (right to personal liberty and protection from arbitrary arrest), 7(1) (right to have one’s cause heard) and 9(2) (right to express and disseminate one’s opinion within the law) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The Commission urged the Government to release immediately and to compensate the detainees. Also in 2007, the African Commission reviewed the case of 18 journalists detained without trial since 2001. It ruled that Eritrea was violating articles 1 (obligations of Member States), 5 (prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment), 6 (right to personal liberty and protection from arbitrary arrest), 7(1) (right to have one’s cause heard), 9 (right to information and free expression) and 18 (protection of the family and vulnerable groups) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The Commission called for a fair trial for the detainees and called on the Government to lift the ban on freedom of the press. Eritrea has yet to implement either ruling. 7