A/HRC/25/16 62. Angola welcomed efforts to promote and protect human rights and accede to more international human rights instruments. It praised the economic success of the Congo, which had led to better living conditions and free health care and education for all. It made recommendations. 63. Argentina commended the ratification of the OP-CRC-AC and legislation enacted to protect the rights of persons living with HIV/AIDS. It encouraged the Congo to continue its efforts to address enforced disappearances and amend legislation considered discriminatory towards women. Argentina made recommendations. 64. Thanking the speakers, the head of the Congolese delegation noted the pertinence of Member States’ comments reflecting the international community’s desire to be governed by the rule of law. He said that, having emerged from civil wars, the Congo had recognized the rule of law as the basis of Congolese society. 65. The Government ensured that the domestic legal order was in keeping with international standards, with a view to the consolidation of democracy in the Congo. It was against that background that the delegation would respond to questions during the interactive dialogue 66. He said that the prohibition of torture in the Congo was enshrined in the Constitution. He added that the Constitution did not yet contain an explicit classification of torture. Acts of torture were punished under conventional criminal offences against individuals. 67. Concerning detention conditions, the delegation noted that prisons built during the colonial era were designed to accommodate a small number of inmates. However, the Government had embarked on an extensive programme of rehabilitation and construction of prison facilities. 68. He said that prisons were visited by non-governmental organizations for human rights, the investigation and analysis services of the Directorate General of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the national human rights commission and international institutions that so requested. 69. Concerning the ratification of international legal instruments, he said that the process of ratifying the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance had commenced. Ratification had been approved on first reading in the Senate. The adoption process was under way in the National Assembly. Both Houses of Parliament had adopted the draft law on ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol. The law would be enacted before 2014. Similarly, the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment and the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights was being considered. 70. The Minister said that the Congo had not applied the death penalty since 1982. As such, the country was considered to be de facto abolitionist. The question of the legal abolition of the death penalty was under consideration, taking into account change in attitude towards the matter. 71. On corruption, the Minister referred to a number of measures carried out between 2012 and 2013 by the national commission to combat corruption, fraud and bribery, including the hearing of 311 companies awarded public works contracts, and to the establishment of a platform with civil society to create an early warning system. 72. With regard to women’s rights, since 2009 the Congo had a national gender policy which placed particular emphasis on the representation of women in decision-making. The electoral law imposed quotas on the representation of women in the electoral lists of GE.14-10049 9