A/HRC/19/9 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was progressing. Ireland hoped to sign the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights before the end of 2011. The reservation of Ireland to Article 19.2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, concerning the licensing of broadcasting enterprises, will be withdrawn. The Government was committed to developing a system of universal health care. The Government was committed to reducing the time taken to process applications for citizenship to an average of six months. In regard to immigration and asylum matters generally, steps were being taken to reduce unacceptable delays in parts of the system. Legislation was before Parliament which would simplify procedures so that decisions on asylum, protection and immigration could be taken speedily and in a transparent manner. 8. Legislation was being prepared to enable ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture. Legislation was before Parliament to outlaw the practice of female genital mutilation. Ireland was also committed to ratification of the Aarhus Convention. Ireland was committed to reviewing family law and the law on domestic violence. 9. Ireland emphasized that its commitment to human rights was based on the principle that governments must always act with the intention of respecting the rights of the individual and human dignity. 10. It reiterated that it was never acceptable for any government to treat national or religious or ethnic minorities as inferior; or to discriminate against women generally or gay men or gay women; or to discriminate against children and to fail to recognize their vulnerability; or to exclude disabled persons from inclusion; or to repress freedom of expression because it feared or disagreed with the speaker’s opinion, except where such opinion constitutes incitement to hatred. 11. On the question of human rights, there was no room for moral relativism or selectivity – respect for dignity and human rights that secured that bedrock value was the incontestable baseline of decent politics everywhere. It was also crucial that States which ask human rights questions of others stand on a sound and honest foundation of protecting the human rights of their own citizens. This was crucial to ensure that credibility attaches to questions put to others and so that they are not simply perceived as opportunistic political positioning on the chessboard of international politics. 12. The Government’s concern about the welfare of the most vulnerable in society, children, had led to a commitment to reorganize the business of Government so as to create a separate government department with sole responsibility for children and young people. 13. The national minimum wage, which had been reduced, has been restored. 14. Ireland’s population was growing and becoming more diverse – about 15 per cent of those living in Ireland were non-citizens, most of whom had come to Ireland in the last decade. Strategies were in place in health, education and other sectors to promote integration and combat racism. 15. While there was no room for complacency, Ireland had not experienced the antiimmigrant campaigns which had occurred in other countries or the rise in so called hate crime, targeting minorities. 16. The Government was developing proposals for a Constitutional Convention which would review the current Constitution, adopted in 1937. 17. The present Constitution contained explicit guarantees in respect of certain fundamental rights and other fundamental rights had been identified by the Courts as being provided for in the Constitution. 4