A/HRC/8/34 Page 13 Committee against Torture, the Human Rights Committee and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention about the overcrowding and poor physical conditions prevailing in the prisons. Norway indicated its wish to receive information on the measures taken or to be taken to address this concern. 50. Switzerland stated that it is vital that anyone suspected of having committed a serious crime should be brought to court in order to be tried. With regard to the penal procedures concerning the crimes committed during the dictatorship, Switzerland underlined the importance that the procedures were in keeping with the principles of fair trial and rapidity. It was vital that these criminal procedures should not be pointlessly slowed down, for if they were delayed this might lead to people escaping a verdict. Therefore, Switzerland recommended that Argentina take all necessary steps to ensure that the principle of rapidity is complied with. Switzerland also underlined that witnesses were a vital element in establishing facts and might be threatened as a result of their participation in legal proceedings. In order to ensure that witnesses come forward, Switzerland stated that it was vital that their personal safety was guaranteed as well as the safety of their family members. Switzerland, therefore, welcomed the witness protection programme that has been set up and recommended that Argentina continue its efforts in this area, in order to make sure that witnesses were not victims of threats or assault. 51. Uruguay noted that the report of Argentina described the long struggle against impunity for the violations of human rights committed during the military dictatorship and that this struggle was successful with the cancellation of the Presidential pardon and impunity. The highest judicial authorities considered such texts as unconstitutional and that the crimes committed could not be subjected to the statute of limitations such as torture, murder, forced disappearance and robbery of children. Progress has also been made with women’s rights, examples were the quota for women in the National Assembly and that the President is a woman. Uruguay congratulated Argentina on the progress it has made on human rights in general including economic, social and cultural rights because of the fact that poverty has diminished and urged Argentina to continue with its efforts. 52. Egypt stated that impunity was key to the promotion and protection of human rights, achieving healing and reconciliation and preventing violations. Whether in regard to Argentina or other similar situations, Egypt noted that the question of amnesty versus impunity always arose, especially when it was perceived as a precondition for settling conflict or a situation of strife. In that context, Egypt raised the following question: while recognizing that different situations entailed different contexts and dynamics and that justice was best rendered when done swiftly, did Argentina’s experience, from which many were benefiting or stood to benefit, suggest that there could be a potential danger in invoking or applying the principle of impunity, when seeking to settle a long-standing conflict or situation, or shortly thereafter where a situation was still fragile. 53. Sweden thanked the Government of Argentina for its serious undertaking for the Universal Periodic Review. Sweden raised a specific question on one of the issues touched upon in the written questions it submitted in advance and stated that the question could also be used as a recommendation. Concerning United Nations and NGO reports of torture and other inhuman treatment by the police, in certain parts of the country, Sweden asked for more information about the steps taken by the federal or provincial governments to ensure that there was no impunity for such crimes. 54. The Republic of Korea welcomed the creation of the National Institute against Discrimination in 1995 and the 2005 National Plan against Discrimination. It asked Argentina to elaborate on concrete measures taken in this area and their effect so far, and encouraged the Government to maintain its efforts to prevent discrimination especially towards the most vulnerable sectors of the