A/HRC/25/13
previously, new infections rates were on the decline. The Prevention of Mother-to-Child
Transmission programme had a coverage rate of 95 per cent. The Government continued to
provide universal access to antiretroviral treatment. In tandem with civil society partners,
the Government also continued to sensitize the general population on HIV issues, targeting
in particular adolescent females and most-at-risk populations.
27.
While the Government had endeavored to ensure implementation of all the treaties
to which Belize was a party, it was mindful that reporting remained a major challenge. The
Attorney General’s Ministry had established an International Legal Affairs Department to,
inter alia, provide advice on treaty obligations which would, in turn, inform the
consideration of joining new treaties. The Government continued to study closely the
treaties recommended by Members of the Human Rights Council during the previous
review. In 2011, Belize ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
(CRPD). It would continue to work towards completing processes already under way for
accession to the major international human rights treaties that were still pending.
28.
The feasibility of establishing a new architecture or a national human rights
institution in accordance with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for
the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles) was a challenge in the
present economic context of strained resources. However, the priority of ensuring
compliance with the State’s human rights obligations remained undiminished. Since the
first UPR cycle, and with the assistance of OHCHR, Belize had convened a number of
workshops to build technical capacity and instituted an interministerial mechanism to
coordinate the preparation of reports to the treaty bodies.
29.
The challenge of timely reporting was not unique to Belize. It was a common
problem among all small States. Belize therefore encouraged the Human Rights Council
and the treaty bodies to continue streamlining the process in an effort to ease the reporting
burden of small countries with limited resources.
30.
Parliament had enacted new laws in the context of its ongoing national efforts to
continuously improve the legislative framework to ensure the protection of human rights of
all Belizeans, taking on board a number of recommendations emanating from its first
universal periodic review.
31.
Belize had, for example, earlier this year, enacted improved domestic legislation
implementing the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons,
Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against
Transnational Organized Crime. Parliament had also passed the Commercial Sexual
Exploitation of Children Prohibition Act in order to implement the provisions of the
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child
prostitution and child pornography (OP-CRC-SC).
32.
The Education and Training Act, which entered into force in 2010, prohibited
corporal punishment in schools. Amendments to the Labour Act treating issues related to
age of admission to work were pending for consideration. Additionally, a draft
Occupational Health and Safety Act aimed at, inter alia, prohibiting the involvement of
children in hazardous work, in accordance with International Labour Organization (ILO)
conventions and other international standards, was also pending consideration.
33.
During its first UPR, Belize received a number of recommendations relating to the
promotion and protection of the rights of women. Those recommendations were focused on
sexual and reproductive health, labour and gender-based violence. In 2010, the United
Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in collaboration with a number of other partners,
conducted an assessment of the linkage between sexual and reproductive health and HIV in
Belize and found that Belize had a comprehensive and supportive national policy
framework.
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