A/HRC/37/8 had been in charge of writing the report, the information therein had come from around 30 national public institutions and 25 regional governments. The first version of the report had been brought before the National Council of Human Rights, a permanent entity made up of State institutions and civil society representatives. In the process, Peru had also received valuable support from the OHCHR Regional Office for South America. 8. Peru was finalizing the third National Human Rights Plan (2017–2021), taking into account the views of public entities and civil society and considering 13 social groups that required special protection. It stated that, for the first time, Peru had planned to adopt public policies for groups that had previously been neglected, such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons and domestic workers. The plan also aimed to implement international standards on business and human rights. 9. In 2016, Peru had ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure and the Agreement on Privileges and Immunities of the International Criminal Court. 10. In the period 2012–2017, a number of major steps forward had been taken, including the aggravation of penalties for the crime of forced disappearance, the amendment of the definition of torture and the definition of the crime of forced labour, the approval of related laws relating to the use of force, the fight against femicide, the search for persons disappeared during the period of violence from 1980 to 2000 and the strengthening of legislation concerning redress to combat gender-based violence. 11. The Office of the Ombudsman had been designated as the national preventive mechanism for the Prevention of Torture. Likewise, the OHCHR Regional Representative for South America had joined the National Human Rights Council as a permanent observer member. 12. In September 2012, Peru had ratified the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and, in 2016, had recognized the competence of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances. In December 2016, it adopted the Law on the Search for Persons Disappeared during the Period of Violence from 1980 to 2000, which had been long awaited by victims and the international community. The corresponding National Plan had also been approved. Subsequently, the General Directorate on the Search for Disappeared Persons, part of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, had been created. Since 2005, the Comprehensive Reparations Plan had been used in the implementation of the recommendations of the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Since the creation of the Plan, economic and individual reparations approaching $100 million in total had been granted to nearly 90,000 people. 13. In February 2016, the Law against Trafficking in Persons and the Illegal Traffic of Migrants had been approved. The Ministry of the Interior had strengthened a police system against trafficking, and the Public Prosecutor’s Office had established eight specialized provincial prosecutors and a specialized prosecutor’s office. In 2017, the new National Plan against Trafficking in Persons had been approved, which had established the persons to be involved in addressing that issue. 14. Since 2013, the Directorate of Cultural Diversity and Elimination of Racial Discrimination, part of the Ministry of Culture, had been in charge of programmes to eliminate ethnic-racial discrimination. One programme, entitled “Racism Warning”, allowed citizens to report acts of ethnic-racial discrimination. The National Commission against Discrimination was also created. 15. In 2016, the permanent National Multisectoral Commission for the Safeguard and Re-evaluation of Traditional and Ancestral Knowledge, Lore and Practices of Indigenous Peoples was created, made up of representatives of 14 public institutions and 2 representatives of indigenous organizations. 16. Peru had made progress in implementing measures aimed at preventing and combating discrimination against women, such as the National Plan for Gender Equality (2012–2017) and the National Plan against Gender-based Violence (2016–2021). 3