A/HRC/40/14 9. The Constitution guaranteed the protection of every person from any type of discrimination and the Government was developing an anti-discrimination bill intended to address non-discrimination in a comprehensive manner. Two human rights observatories had also been established to raise awareness of discriminatory laws and procedures for persons living with HIV. Following a request from the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex community, the Supreme Court had declared unconstitutional the section in the Criminal Code criminalizing sexual relations between consenting adults of the same sex. 10. Belize had put in place measures to effectively address excessive use of force by law enforcement officials, including through strengthened inter-agency cooperation between relevant State bodies. The Police Department and the Office of the Ombudsman had signed a memorandum of understanding to investigate complaints, conduct training and joint field operations, and elaborate standard operating procedures to speed up the investigation and processing of complaints. Additionally, offices of the Professional Standards Branch had been established countrywide, with the task of addressing complaints of abuse or other wrongdoing by law enforcement agents. A public education programme to raise awareness among the population of their rights and responsibilities was also about to be implemented. 11. Belize had made significant improvements in addressing prolonged pretrial detention. Among other measures, the Criminal Procedures Rules now specified the time frame for custody, particularly for cases of murder, and two judges had been appointed to the Supreme Court to assist with the backlog of cases. Even though the death penalty had not been abolished, it had not been applied in Belize for over 30 years and a national debate continued on the issue. 12. Belize had legally abolished corporal punishment in institutional settings, including the education system. The complete abolition of corporal punishment in the home remained an issue of national discussion and efforts had been made to raise the awareness of parents of alternative forms of discipline. 13. Belize had adopted several measures to combat trafficking in persons. In particular, the Government had replaced its 2000 Act with a more robust 2013 Trafficking in Persons Prohibition Act that, inter alia, established a Council on Anti-Trafficking in Persons as an intersectoral body responsible for the supervision and coordination of the national response on the matter. Furthermore, the Government was training frontline stakeholders in victim identification and referral. 14. Sustainable development was at the heart of growth and the sustainable development agenda in Belize, which reflected an integrated approach by incorporating both national development priorities and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Government had continued taking measures to address poverty and social exclusion in line with its strategies and vision reflected in the national development framework. In addition the Ministry of Human Development was implementing key social safety net initiatives, such as the programmes “Building Opportunities for our Social Transformation (BOOST)”, “BOOST +” and the “Food Pantry”. 15. Even in the face of an economic downturn, Belize was deeply committed to addressing the challenges of income disparity. Incremental improvements in the standard of living of the poor and indigent populations had been achieved through a number of social programmes, notably the Food Pantry, the national health insurance scheme, the conditional cash transfer programme and high school grants and feeding programmes. 16. The Government continued to provide health-care services to all without discrimination. The national health insurance scheme had been expanded and now reached four out of six districts, with services tailored to the elderly and people living in remote areas. In accordance with the 90-90-90 target of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, the Government had adopted the “Treat All” policy, which guaranteed immediate access to free antiretroviral medicines to persons living with HIV. 17. With respect to the right to education, the Government had approved the “educational quality improvement programme”, which supported the national education strategy in fields such as governance and teacher quality, and had significantly increased 3