A/HRC/18/7 19. The Seychelles Media Commission, established in 2010, sought to preserve the freedom of media, maintaining and improving high standards of journalism, requiring the publishers of newspapers, radio and television to respect human dignity and freedom from discrimination on any grounds. It was an independent institution also mandated to formulate a code of conduct for media. 20. The new Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation Act of 2011 demarcated more clearly the institution’s independence. A new public order act was under preparation to reform rules relating to assemblies in public places and bring it into conformity with the spirit of the Constitution. 21. Seychelles noted that its Social Security Fund was a universal insurance system covering economic distress from sickness, maternity, injury, employment, invalidity, old age and death, as well as economic stress experienced by orphaned and abandoned children, for all resident contributors, including foreign employees, and the Pension Fund covered all public and private Seychellois workers. 22. The delegation observed that the Department of Social Development sought to empower individuals and families and reduce dependency, to safeguard and promote the interests and well-being of children, to integrate and protect marginalized and vulnerable groups and to adopt an integrated and evidence-based approach to development. Several action plans and strategies targeting the preservation and promotion of the social rights of vulnerable groups had recently been developed under its umbrella. 23. The need to promote gender equity and equality and to mainstream gender into all socio-economic policies and activities was stressed under the Social Development Strategy for Seychelles Beyond 2000 and the 2007 National Population Policy. The Gender Secretariat was established in 2005 to promote gender mainstreaming in all policies, programmes and activities of the Government, at the levels of the private sector and civil society. 24. Seychelles stated that child protection was a central priority. The Child Protection Unit, created in 1999, worked with the National Council for Children and other organizations to protect children from sexual, physical, neglect and emotional abuse, to provide guidance and counselling for abused children and their families, to undertake preventive work and register children at risk. Procedures for inter-agency cooperation on protection from child abuse were outlined under the 1997 document entitled “Working Together”. 25. The delegation stated that the domestication of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in respect of Intercountry Adoption was under way to regulate intercountry adoption and ensure the protection of children in that context. The National Commission for Child Protection, established in 2005, coordinated with all stakeholders to propose policies and advised the Government on child protection matters. 26. Extensive surveys, including the 1998 National Youth Survey and Aspiration 2013, had been conducted to gauge the views of youth and children and incorporate them into plans and policies. The National Youth Assembly, launched in 2003, sought to establish dialogue between youth and policymakers and provide them with a forum to voice concerns and ideas. The National Council for Children developed the 2011 Youth Plan of Action to promote entrepreneurial spirit. 27. Seychelles stated that the 2001 Mont Royal Rehabilitation Centre provided addicted persons with a therapeutic environment in which to facilitate and encourage their process of recovery, to improve the physical, psychological, social and vocational functioning of the individual, to provide aftercare treatment and to facilitate re-integration. 5