A/HRC/43/9 and Fundamental Freedoms, the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention), the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with Regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data and the Convention on Cybercrime and its Additional Protocol concerning the criminalization of acts of a racist and xenophobic nature committed through computer systems. 30. San Marino had also ratified other international instruments, such as the Arms Trade Treaty, the Paris Agreement, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and the Maternity Protection Convention (Revised), 1952 (No. 183) of the International Labour Organization, the principles and provisions of which were intertwined with the protection of human rights. 31. Following the second review cycle, thanks to the recommendations submitted to the country, San Marino had intervened incisively in the field of human rights protection, adopting significant legislative measures and implementing good practices for the protection of human rights. 32. It was worth recalling that in the legal system of San Marino, the Declaration of Citizens’ Rights and Fundamental Principles of San Marino Constitutional Order (Law No. 59 of 8 July 1974 and subsequent amendments) was a Constitution to all intents and purposes. It was a so-called rigid Constitution, in that its amendment required a qualified majority of the parliament. The Guarantors’ Panel on the Constitutionality of Rules (Constitutional Court) verified that new laws or those already in force, if challenged, complied with the Constitution. 33. Article 4 of the Declaration recognized the principle of equality. Recently, a major constitutional amendment had been made to that article, which had broadened the application of the principle of equality before the law and had explicitly excluded any distinctions based on sexual orientation. The amendment had been approved in a confirmatory referendum, requested by the parliament and held on 2 June 2019, to which the population of San Marino had responded with 71.46 per cent of votes in favour. 34. The constitutional amendment had followed the introduction of a law regulating civil registered partnerships, which provided that both homosexual and heterosexual couples who registered as civil partners had equal dignity, rights and safeguards as married couples. Those who decided to register their civil partnership under the new law and its implementing regulation acquired the same status as married couples in terms of residence, succession, cohabitation, mutual assistance, inheritance rights and other matters, whether the partners were of the same sex or not. 35. Major progress had been made in combating violence against women and genderbased violence. Following the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, legislation had been adopted on 6 May 2016 bringing the relevant provisions of the national legal system into line with that Convention. The law had introduced new criminal offences into the national legal system in the field of violence against women, gender-based violence and domestic violence, notably forced marriage, female genital mutilation and forced sterilization. The provision of the Criminal Code relating to family mistreatment has also been amended, introducing the offence of domestic violence. Moreover, the provision relating to the prohibition of discrimination, hatred or violence had been supplemented to include discrimination, violence or provocation linked to gender identity and sexual orientation. 36. Since 2008, the Authority for Equal Opportunities had been operating in San Marino with the task of receiving all reports of abuse or illicit conduct in the field of violence against women and gender-based violence. Furthermore, a decree passed on 17 May 2018 had provided the Authority with operational tools aimed at coordinating all stakeholders involved in the prevention and protection of victims of violence, and numerous initiatives had been launched to prevent and combat violence against women and gender-based violence. 37. Another significant step in the recognition of equal gender rights had been taken with the adoption of a law on 26 November 2015 on the equal transmission of the surname. It allowed parents to choose together whether they wished to give their newborn the 5