A/HRC/23/52 C. Human trafficking 26. Belarus is addressing concerns that it is both a source and transit country for women, men and children subjected to human trafficking for both sexual exploitation and forced labour. Belarus was one of the first CIS member States to devise activities and legal tools, both nationally and in cooperation with international bodies, on this issue. 14 The Special Rapporteur recalls the request made by Belarus on 30 December 2009 to accede to the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, and within that agreed to the terms of the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, its monitoring mechanism. D. Issue of the death penalty 27. Despite the regrettable fact that Belarus enforced the death penalty in two cases in 2012, some developments may be seen as signs of openness towards a possible reform. It abstained in the vote held by the Third Committee on a draft resolution on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty.15 It was announced on 20 December 2012 that a parliamentary working group had been re-established to consider the issue of the death penalty. In the first months of 2013, the Chairman of the Constitutional Court stressed several times that “the question of a moratorium on the death penalty remains open”, although it would not be on the agenda in the foreseeable future. 16 E. Millennium Development Goals 28. The Special Rapporteur recognizes the efforts being made by Belarus to achieve several of the Millennium Development Goals. 29. Belarus has fully implemented the target to reduce by more than three times the share of the population living below the national poverty line. Data available only until 2009 show that the share of individuals below the minimum subsistence levels dropped from 41.9 per cent to 5.4 per cent. 30. As at 2009, Belarus had succeeded in halving the mortality rate of children under 5 years of age. It has a low maternal mortality rate (1 per 100,000 births in 2009), approaching the average for industrialized nations. Further action is needed to strengthen the national response to HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis, which is highly prevalent, and constitutes a major threat to public health. The national strategy for sustainable socioeconomic development to 2020 calls for the development of policies to secure environmental health and to improve the quality of life. 17 31. At its universal periodic review in 2010, Belarus accepted a number of recommendations to increase its efforts in certain areas relating to the Millennium Development Goals.18 14 15 16 17 18 See www.mfa.gov.by/en/organizations/issue/trafficking/. General Assembly resolution 67/176, adopted by a recorded vote of 111 in favour to 41 against, with 34 abstentions. See www.belta.by/ru/all_news/society/Vopros-o-vvedenii-moratorija-na-smertnuju-kazn-v-Belarusiostaetsjaotkrytym---Miklashevich_i_621887.html. See UNDP Belarus at http://undp.by/en/undp/milleniumgoalsbelarus/. A/HRC/15/16, paras. 97.44 – 97.46. 7