A/HRC/38/8 expressed regret at the fact that Botswana had not accept recommendations relating to the decriminalization of same-sex sexual activities. 109. The Niger congratulated Botswana on the reduction of poverty in rural and urban areas, as indicated in its report highlighting the achievement of the targets of the Millennium Development Goals. 110. Paraguay welcomed the recent progress of Botswana in terms of human rights and especially with regard to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Act. 111. The Philippines recognized the enactment by Botswana of the Anti-Human Trafficking Act of 2014 and the resulting advances made by the State in the areas of human trafficking, migrants and poverty alleviation. 112. Portugal welcomed the efforts to establish a national human rights institution. 113. The Republic of Korea noted progress in the areas of development and poverty reduction. It hoped that the policies and initiatives to develop the economy could be implemented to address the concerns of disadvantaged and marginalized communities. 114. The delegation of Botswana stated that the Government was committed to ensuring the protection of all children, as evidenced by the ratification and domestication of relevant international and regional instruments and the report it had submitted to the Committee on the Rights of the Child. 115. Birth registration was carried out through a computerized, real-time system linked to the national identity system. There were decentralized district registration offices across the country. All major hospitals had a birth and death registration desk and there were mobile field visits by teams to reach out to children in remote areas. 116. The protection of children was carried out at the national and local levels through established functional structures, including the National Children’s Council, the Village Child Protection Committees and the National Children’s Consultative Forum, which enabled the participation of children. 117. In order to establish the magnitude of sexual abuse of children, a survey on violence against children had recently been completed. A response plan would be finalized and disseminated by March 2018. The child protection protocol had been completed and would also be disseminated. 118. Legislative measures had been taken to prohibit all forms of practices that were harmful to children. Education and capacity-building of different stakeholders implementing the Children’s Act had continued through “kgotla” (traditional meetings) and workshops. 119. The results of the ongoing situational analysis for orphans and vulnerable children would inform the reviews of the National Plan of Action for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (2010–2016) and the National Plan of Action for Children 2006–2016. There was a comprehensive people-centred social protection system for vulnerable groups. 120. Through the Revised Remote Area Development Programme of 2009, children from remote area communities were assisted with access to education. 121. Botswana was working towards lifting its reservations to article 1 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and article 2 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. Legislation was being amended to bring the definition of the child into line with that contained in those instruments. 122. Botswana had retained corporal punishment in its 2009 Children’s Act because communities had insisted that the practice should not be abolished. Measures were being explored to change the mindset of those communities. 123. The National Policy on Gender and Development, which was aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, recognized the critical role played by civil society organizations, development partners and the media in advancing the gender agenda. 10