A/HRC/16/8
were interpreted as prohibiting all corporal punishment in child-rearing. Hungary made
recommendations.
31.
Brazil stated that it welcomed the important steps taken by Andorra in its
commitment to the realization of human rights, and noted with interest the measures taken
to face human rights challenges. Brazil acknowledged that Andorra guaranteed a system of
social security under which the public health system was aimed at the entire population,
without distinction of any kind. It stated that it had nevertheless learned that restrictions
were imposed on foreigners residing in Andorra under irregular conditions. Brazil asked
what the obstacles were for the children of seasonal workers residing irregularly in Andorra
in terms of access to health and education services. Brazil made recommendations.
32.
The United Kingdom welcomed the attention given to human rights by the
successive Governments of Andorra since the Constitution of 1993 and noted that Andorra
had signed and ratified 40 international human rights conventions. It noted that Andorra
had established a number of national bodies to promote human rights, which included the
Association of Communications Professionals of Andorra, to promote the right to freedom
of information and expression, and the State Secretariat for Equality and Welfare. The
United Kingdom would watch with interest for concrete improvements generated by those
bodies. It hoped that overdue responses to reports by treaty bodies would appear without
much more delay, which would help to address civil society concerns about how allegations
of police misconduct were handled and the concerns of the Committee on the Elimination
of Discrimination against Women about gender discrimination. The United Kingdom asked
Andorra about the steps taken to address the Committee’s concerns. It made
recommendations.
33.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Institutional Relations, replying to the question
of whether the Andorran Government intended to set up an independent body, in
accordance with the recommendation of the European Commission against Racism and
Intolerance, in order to allow investigations into complaints against police misconduct, said
that any person was entitled and was given the real opportunity to report facts directly to
the Andorran courts without going through the police. The duty court was open round the
clock 365 days a year. According to statistics from 2006 onwards, no complaint had been
lodged for any misconduct by an Andorran police officer. It would appear, therefore, that
such a body would not serve much purpose for the time being. There was an internal affairs
department within the police service that was responsible for investigating police
misconduct and police corruption. Once they had successfully passed the technical and
physical tests required for entry to the service, members of the Andorran police force
attended training in the Spanish and French police academies. Courses specialized in
human rights, with an emphasis on racism and ethnic discrimination. Lastly, the UNICEF
National Committee for Andorra and the Ministry of the Interior were jointly working on
training programmes for all special units to create awareness of children’s rights. The
Government of Andorra was pleased to maintain an open invitation to the special
procedures of the Human Rights Council.
34.
Regarding the possibility of creating a number of independent bodies to protect
human rights, he wanted to point out that the main guarantors of human rights in Andorra
were the courts of law. Owing to Andorra’s size and structure, any undue proliferation of
national bodies would inevitably lead to considerable expenditure of human and budgetary
resources. The Office of the Ombudsman had been established under the Act of 4 June
1998. Its main function, according to article 1, was to defend and ensure the fulfilment and
implementation of all the rights and liberties enshrined in the Constitution. The
Ombudsman was empowered to take in complaints from all citizens, and submitted an
activities report each year to Parliament. In 2009, the Office had received 266 complaints,
including 184 simple enquiries and 37 formal complaints concerning disputes between
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