A/HRC/16/2 1. Views expressed by the State under review on the recommendations and/or conclusions, on its voluntary commitments and on the outcome 483. Andorra expressed its satisfaction with the interactive dialogue held during the ninth session of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review. It recalled its adoption of 30 international human rights conventions since 1993, when it joined the United Nations. It thanked the 22 delegations that had intervened during the interactive dialogue for their interest. Commenting on the universal periodic review as a new peer-review process, Andorra noted that Member States possessed unequal economic and human resources and faced different challenges. Some States, like Andorra, had never been entangled in a global conflict nor had they been victims of a dictatorship or a revolution. Therefore Andorra believed that it would be more effective and useful to take into account each State’s cultural, geographic and historical distinctive features when they came before the Human Rights Council for their universal periodic review. 484. Andorra supported the idea of international solidarity, in particular for the ratification of human rights conventions. However, it was not easy for Andorra to adhere to new conventions owing to its limited human and financial resources. 485. Andorra had accepted 24 of 56 recommendations made during Working Group discussions, and this was testimony to the progress that it had made in the area of human rights. The corporal punishment of minors was punished by criminal laws, gender equality policies had been set up and it had become party to other international conventions. 486. In parallel, the Government had considered 30 recommendations and decided not to accept two of them owing to the complexity in their implementation. 487. Andorra had accepted to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol (parts of recommendations 84.4, 84.7 and 84.10), the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, and the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (recommendations 84.15 and 84.16). 488. Other accepted recommendations related to the review of existing legislation, including the Marriage Law, to achieve compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (recommendations 84.17 and 84.27); the submission and presentation of pending reports to treaty bodies (recommendation 84.24); the effective protection of the rights of foreigners residing in the country and the active promotion of anti-discrimination policies, including in law enforcement practices (recommendation 84.25); the regulation and guarantee of the rights of workers in accordance with the standards of the European Social Charter, through dialogue with social agents and social stakeholders, and by seeking maximum parliamentary consensus (recommendation 84.28); and the establishment of a system of data collection to allow the compilation of an inventory of the problems faced by immigrants in areas such as employment and access to public office, to enable measures to solve these problems and to better evaluate their situation and consolidate efforts to ensure that their rights are respected (recommendations 84.29 and 84.30). 489. Andorra acknowledged the importance of adopting the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and its Optional Protocol (parts of recommendations 84.1, 84.2, 84.4, 84.5, 84.6, 84.7, 84.9 and 84.10), but stressed the difficulties it faced to date to make a firm commitment to their ratification. 490. With regard to the amendment to legislation to decriminalize abortion under certain circumstances, such as pregnancies as a result of rape (recommendation 84.18), Andorra would consider the possibility of amending the Penal Code to decriminalize this medical act when carried out in Andorra. Finally, with regard to joining the International Labour 172 GE.11-17059