A/HRC/33/9 32. The United States of America was deeply concerned that the Government of Hungary had taken steps that had eroded checks and balances and centralized executive power. 33. Uruguay welcomed the adoption of the new Constitution in 2012, and steps taken on integrating minorities, although challenges persisted. 34. Albania commended Hungary on the adoption of a specific legal provision in line with the concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women concerning domestic violence. 35. The Philippines expressed concern about reported violation of human rights of migrants and called for international assistance to be given to Hungary. 36. Argentina noted actions taken to end domestic violence and encouraged Hungary to continue adopting measures for this purpose. 37. Australia welcomed the establishment of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights and encouraged Hungary to continue supporting it. 38. Austria expressed concern about allegations of undue government interference with political media coverage and lack of an effective strategy to counter the increase recourse to hate speech in Hungary. 39. Azerbaijan welcomed the accession to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and appreciated the work done by Hungary in implementing social protection programmes for victims of trafficking. 40. Bahrain commended the intention of Hungary to criminalize domestic violence but was concerned that there had been no similar condemnation of other forms of violence. 41. Bangladesh expressed concern that the current level of official development assistance (ODA) remained low in Hungary despite the efforts to increase ODA contributions. 42. Belarus was satisfied by the adoption of a national strategy on human trafficking and the implementation of youth-oriented preventive programmes. 43. Belgium commended Hungary for the measures it had taken to fight discrimination against women and noted that several reports had mentioned that patriarchal attitudes and stereotypes persisted in Hungarian society. 44. Bosnia and Herzegovina welcomed the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and expressed concern over constant low representation of women in decision-making processes. 45. The delegation stated that, on the independence of the Constitutional Court and the judiciary, new laws had been enacted that were being reviewed with the representatives of the European Commission. It stated that the Court had very similar rights to the rights of the German Constitutional Court and that, since 2012, in more than 100 cases, the Court had declared some of the laws it had examined to be unconstitutional and overruled some judicial decisions. That had proved that the Constitutional Court was a real and genuine controller of the legislative and executive branches in Hungary. The delegation underscored the independence of the Court. 46. Regarding the administration of the judiciary, a new system had been created in which the National Office for the Judiciary and the National Council of Justice were jointly overviewing and supervising the judicial branch, which demonstrated the absolute independence of the judicial branch. 6 GE.16-11654