A/HRC/WG.6/5/L.5 page 5 harassed by the Government in the course of their work. He gave as an example several recent local press articles strongly criticizing the Government and the Head of State, the outcome of which could have been very different. 12. To date, over 100 registered political parties and associations were able to freely exercise their activities, as were over 200 non-political organizations and associations of a social, economic and cultural nature. 13. The head of the Congolese delegation said that the Congolese parliament had recently adopted legislation on the protection of children, and other specific measures guaranteeing all children access to education and health care. While some shortcomings might remain, they did not run counter to the general policy of protecting the rights of the child. 14. With regard to problems in the justice sector, he said that judges who had violated professional ethics had recently been removed from the bench by the Supreme Council of the Judiciary. 15. The Congo had not applied the death penalty since 1979. 16. The Government was trying to remedy the irregularities that had been observed in the organization of legislative and local elections, and was doing its utmost to ensure the success of the presidential elections scheduled for July 2009. To that end, it had held a civic consultation from 14 to 17 April 2009, which had brought together all political actors, including from the opposition, civil society, religious denominations and diplomatic representations, with the exception of the “radical” opposition, which had refused to take part in the event, even before the proceedings started, despite having participated in the preliminary discussions concerning the agenda and rules of procedure. The consultation had provided a forum for the objective assessment of past mistakes, and the establishment of guidelines to ensure that elections were organized more efficiently, in an atmosphere of total calm. B. Interactive dialogue and responses by the State under review 17. During the interactive dialogue, statements were made by 44 delegations, a number of which praised Congo for its presentation and commitment to the UPR process as well as for the involvement of various stakeholders in the preparation of the national report. Statements were also made congratulating Congo for its record on the ratification of international human rights instruments.