A/HRC/14/9 and limited human resources, San Marino is committed to attaining that objective. San Marino is making efforts to adjust its domestic legislation to international provisions aimed at combating terrorism and terrorist financing, although those phenomena do not directly affect the country. 9. The head of the delegation reported on the involvement of San Marino civil society in the universal periodic review and expressed her willingness to involve it in the follow-up to that review. Although she believed that the written contributions of some stakeholders expressed criticism of the Government that, in some cases, did not reflect the position of the majority of the population, San Marino had accorded attention to all of them. Active participation in the life of the State has always characterized San Marino. 10. With regard to treaty-body reporting obligations, San Marino acknowledged its delays, as well as the fact that it had not been able to provide answers to all the questions posed by the United Nations special procedures. Owing to its limited human resources, San Marino will be in a position to submit no more than one report per year to treaty bodies. However, the country attaches great importance to the monitoring functions of treaty bodies, and a number of important human rights law provisions were adopted pursuant to specific recommendations made by regional and/or international monitoring bodies. However, San Marino does not intend to rely on the technical assistance service kindly offered by OHCHR, as delays were due to a lack of human resources, not a lack of expertise. 11. San Marino demonstrated its willingness to fully cooperate with human rights mechanisms by extending a standing invitation to all special procedures in 2003. Moreover, San Marino has received periodic visits by and collaborated with several monitoring bodies of the Council of Europe. 12. San Marino has considered the possibility of acceding to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. However, the establishment of an independent national preventive mechanism is a difficult task for a small country to carry out in order to guarantee the independence, capacity and expertise of the members of such a mechanism. In addition to the allocation of financial resources that would be required, San Marino emphasized that that such a task was not among the country’s national priorities, since no cases of torture had ever been reported in San Marino. 13. For similar reasons, San Marino has not yet established an independent mechanism, in compliance with the Paris Principles. In San Marino, ombudsman functions have always been carried out by the Captains Regent, and recourse to the Captains Regent not only for citizens, but also for residents, became part of the legal system in 2005. 14. The principle of equality and the prohibition of discrimination are included in the Declaration on the Citizens’ Rights, as amended in 2002. The rights set out in international conventions are an integral part of the constitutional order of San Marino and prevail over domestic legislation. Therefore, article 14 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, relating to the prohibition of discrimination, has constitutional status in the country. San Marino has also ratified Protocol No. 12 to the Convention, which has been applied many times in national case law. 15. The prohibition of gender-based discrimination is now enshrined in the Declaration on the Citizens’ Rights, as amended in 2000, although it had already been provided for in article 4 of the Declaration and article 14 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. 16. In addition, Law No. 66 of 2008 amended the Criminal Code, which now punishes anyone disseminating through any means ideas based on superiority or on racial or ethnic 4