A/HRC/33/10 17. Additionally, Papua New Guinea intended to ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. 18. The recommendations to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities would be considered in the context of national legislation. 19. Papua New Guinea continued to constructively engage with the human rights special procedure mandate holders. The Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions had visited the country in March 2012 and March 2014, respectively. Papua New Guinea was also considering the visit request from the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants. 20. The respective recommendations of the Special Rapporteurs who had visited the country were being considered by Papua New Guinea and, in certain areas, including detainees’ treatment and gender-based violence, specific national actions were well under way. For example, Papua New Guinea had instituted human rights training for law enforcement officers with commendable support from the International Committee of the Red Cross and Australia. It had also enacted the Juvenile Justice Act in 2014, which safeguarded juveniles, particularly women and girls in custody or detention. Gender-based violence had been addressed in 2013 through the enactment of the Family Protection Act, which had provided a strong basis for protecting women from violence. 21. The delegation stressed the absence of credible official data and statistics on violence against women and girls and gender-based violence in the country, which needed to be addressed. However, general prevalence rates indicated that those human rights concerns were still at an unacceptable level and they thus continued to be of serious concern to Papua New Guinea. There was no place for violence against women and girls and gender-based violence in the country’s communities and homes. Elimination of such human rights violations was a core focus and must be a matter for all and not just for the Government. Papua New Guinea was strengthening efforts at all levels to ensure that all citizens promoted women and girls and protected them from violence of any form and that women and girls were treated with dignity and respect. Papua New Guinea was committed to addressing that important issue. Advocacy and awareness-raising programmes were still needed. However, challenges were real as resource and capacity constraints were serious impediments that required appropriate support. 22. Papua New Guinea had prioritized and was committed to combating violence against women and girls and gender-based violence at all levels. Efforts in that regard included the application of the Lukautim Pikinini (Child) (Amendment) Act 2014, which criminalized underage marriage (of children under 18 years old), while the Criminal Code provided for the criminalization of marital rape and attempted rape. 23. In addition, the establishment, with the generous support of development partners, throughout the country of 17 family support centres and sexual violence centres was a helpful tool in the campaign against gender-based violence. Creating an enabling environment by linking police and health work in the context of gender-based violence was contributing to the access to justice, medical care and services and the rehabilitation and recovery of victims of gender-based violence. Moreover, complementary and commendable supportive work against gender-based violence was provided by civil society in the country, especially in urban areas, where “Haus Ruth” safe houses were provided for short-term protection and accommodation for victims. 24. Furthermore, a key measure in combating gender-based violence that Papua New Guinea had taken was the enhancement of gender equality and empowerment policies, GE.16-12009 5