A/HRC/8/50 Page 4 rule of law in the 1990s, characterized by the establishment of democratic institutions, the implementation of a decentralization policy, the introduction of media freedom and the emergence of a dynamic civil society, had helped to strengthen the framework for promoting and protecting human rights and democratic freedoms in his country. A decree of October 2007 had made the Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seals responsible for promoting and protecting human rights. In order to supplement certain existing structures, such as the National Ombudsman, the Higher Council on Communication and the National Human Rights Commission, Mali planned to set up a national body responsible for formulating and implementing the national policy for the promotion and protection of human rights. The National Human Rights Commission met the criteria of independence and autonomy laid down in the Paris Principles, even though it had been established by decree. However, he pointed out that, in response to the concerns that had been presented to him, a bill on the establishment of the National Human Rights Commission had been included in the Government’s work programme for the second half of 2008. 7. With the support of its partners in the United Nations system, the Government intended to put in place a joint support programme to promote human and gender rights in Mali, which would be responsible for promoting knowledge about human rights and ensuring their realization during the period 2008-2012. Mali had ratified regional and international legal instruments on the promotion and protection of human rights, had submitted reports to certain treaty monitoring bodies and had acted on the observations and recommendations made by those bodies. In that regard, the Government was considering how to find the means to boost national capacities in order to ensure that periodic reports were submitted on a regular basis. On 10 December every year, Mali held a national human rights forum, called the Forum for Democratic Discussion (Espace d’interpellation démocratique), where citizens questioned members of the Government directly about human rights violations of which they claimed to have been the victims during the year. In that framework, Mali intended to observe the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with special festivities. The adoption of a national civic education programme was also part of Mali’s efforts to disseminate the values of democracy and human rights in society. 8. In order to consolidate political pluralism, a law on the financing of political parties had been adopted, opposition parties had been given formal standing and direct aid had been granted to the press. Mali had adopted the Ten-year Justice Development Programme with a view to improving material and human resources and capacities related to the protection of human rights and the administration of justice. Mali had amended a number of laws in order to bring them into line with international standards. It had also drawn up a preliminary draft Personal and Family Code, which would repeal all discriminatory provisions. The draft had been submitted to a commission representing different social and religious tendencies in order to arrive at a broad consensus. The commission had already completed its work and would officially submit its report to the President of the Republic on 22 May 2008. In order to contend with the weight of tradition that perpetuated certain practices deemed harmful to women and children, Mali had focused on education and awareness-raising, rather than the adoption of laws that might not be implemented effectively if they did not have the population’s backing. For example, in order to combat excision, family violence and child labour, the Government had adopted programmes (National Programme to Combat the Practice of Excision, National Plan to Combat Violence against Women, Girls and National Programme to Combat Child Labour), which were currently being implemented and which were producing encouraging results. In order to protect vulnerable persons, the Government had set up the Ministry for the Advancement of Women, Children and the Family and a Ministry for Social Development, Solidarity and the Elderly. In order to improve the protection and promotion of human rights, Mali had requested the international community’s assistance in implementing its Social and Economic Development Programme, in the following areas: