A/HRC/17/2 related policies within the Government and with regard to the implementation of international human rights obligations and treaty body recommendations, had been tasked with the coordination of the implementation of universal periodic review recommendations. 391. The human rights coordinators also had an important role to play in the dialogue process with civil society. On the basis of a thematic roster, all universal periodic review recommendations were clustered and assigned to the competent ministry and Government body. Each ministry would engage with civil society representatives and non-governmental organizations in thematic dialogues with regard to implementation. Furthermore, a special high-level universal periodic review steering committee had been established, comprising high-level officials of the Constitutional Law Service of the Federal Chancellery, the International Law Department of the Foreign Ministry and civil society representatives. The committee supported the review process to ensure continuous progress in the implementation of the universal periodic review recommendations. Its first meeting was held on 25 May 2011. 392. The Government had accepted several recommendations with regard to considering the withdrawal of reservations to international human rights conventions, in particular with regard to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. 393. Austria had accepted recommendations aimed at the strengthening of the existing institutional framework, comprising the Austrian Ombudsman Board, which had extended its human rights monitoring activities in recent years, and specialized ombudsperson mechanisms for equal treatment and for anti-discrimination. This system of specialized protection mechanisms had been very effective and had operated in a focused manner. Therefore, an application for re-accreditation of the Ombudsman Board had been made, and was currently being examined by the Subcommittee on Accreditation of the International Coordinating Committee of national human rights institutions. 394. Austria had committed itself to the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and had also accepted universal periodic review recommendations in this regard. The Government’s legislative proposal for the implementation of the Optional Protocol, aiming at new constitutional provisions and an amendment to the Ombudsman Board Law, had been sent out for public assessment on 23 May 2011. It provided for a substantial expansion of the Austrian Ombudsman Board’s competences in the protection against human rights violations. It was expected that the draft law would be submitted to Parliament in the second half of 2011. According to the draft law, the structures and mandate of the Austrian Ombudsman Board, whose independence was guaranteed by constitutional law, would be enlarged and adapted to fulfil its obligations as a national preventive mechanism. 395. To the above end, six commissions, independent in accordance with the Paris Principles, would take up their functions under the Ombudsman Board and conduct monitoring visits to all places of detention or deprivation of liberty in the country. Furthermore, the Human Rights Advisory Council, which was currently operating within the Ministry of the Interior, would be re-established under the Austrian Ombudsman Board and enlarged to cover all administrative areas concerned. 396. With regard to the recommendations on the rights of the child, Parliament had approved a bill in January 2011 that incorporated children’s rights into the federal Constitution. The law affirmed, among other provisions, a child’s right to being raised without violence and to having direct contact with both parents unless the child’s wellbeing was at stake. It banned child labour and abuse, and called for equal treatment of disabled and non-disabled children. GE.12-13630 143