A/HRC/30/5 8. Malawi had endeavoured to clear the backlog of State party reports. In 2012, it submitted its initial report to the Human Rights Committee. In 2013, it submitted the initial report to the African Commission on the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and its Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa. In 2014, it submitted the report on the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of discrimination against women. In 2015, it submitted its combined third, fourth and fifth periodic reports on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, its initial report on the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, as well as its initial report to the African Union on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. Preparation of reports was ongoing in respect of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. 9. Recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur on the right to food following his visit in July 2013, were being considered by the Government for implementation. 10. In 2012, the Disability Act was passed, providing for equal opportunities for persons with disabilities and the establishment of a disability trust fund. However, the fund had not yet been established. Following a situational analysis of children with disabilities in 2011, a national workplan on programmes for children with disabilities had been drawn up to strengthen coordination in developing and implementing programmes that promoted the rights of all children with disabilities. 11. Several steps had been taken to ensure that persons in detention were kept in humane and decent living conditions. Electric cooking pots had been procured for all prisons to ensure that inmates had access to their daily portions of cooked food. Human rights had been mainstreamed in the Malawi Prisons Service as a necessary measure to prohibit torture. Also, human rights education had been included in the basic training curriculum for prison staff. Social welfare officers had been appointed in all prisons. Human rights open days had been held in prisons during which awareness-raising programmes have been held for prisoners. Parole regulations had been formulated as a measure to reduce prison overcrowding. A register of prisoners had been developed to track prisoners’ overstay. 12. Police officers had been trained to refrain from perpetrating torture and to ensure that the rights of suspects were respected. A professional standards unit had investigated all cases of torture, while efforts to establish the Police Complaints Commission were underway. Diversion guidelines, victim support unit guidelines and a child protection policy had been developed and the police training manual had been reviewed. The establishment of the “lay visitor’s scheme” had also contributed to a reduction in human rights violations. The scheme consisted of local leaders, paralegals and women, all of whom were empowered to make unannounced visits to police cells and attend to complaints by detained suspects. 13. A building for the commercial division of the high court was under construction in Blantyre. Buildings for the magistrate courts had either been constructed or renovated in six districts. The intention was to have the judiciary staffed with 40 high court judges in the near future. There were currently 11 justices of appeal and 22 judges of the high court. Two justices of appeal and 10 judges of the high court had been appointed in the period between 2012 and 2014. In 2014, 57 third-grade magistrates had been appointed and deployed to rural areas. 4