A/HRC/17/2 had accepted to work closely with the Venice Commission and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to ensure that their recommendations would be taken into account in the final package of electoral amendments. The extent to which these recommendations would be implemented would, however, have to be subject to broad political consensus. 498. Regarding the amendment of Georgia’s legislation on assemblies and manifestations, the delegation brought to the attention of the Human Rights Council the fact that the Constitutional Court had recently reviewed the Law of Georgia on Assemblies and Manifestation and repealed norms restricting the enjoyment of freedoms of assembly and demonstrations because they were incompatible with the Constitution. This decision was a basis for bringing domestic legislation into line with international standards. Also, with regard to freedom of the media, on 8 April 2011, Parliament had passed amendments to the Law on Broadcasting to enhance media ownership and financial transparency. Georgia believed that the existing legislative and policy framework guaranteed freedom of the media and intended to continue to ensure it through supplementary measures that were considered necessary. 499. With regard to recommendations relating to places of worship, Georgia recognized the importance of addressing this problem but noted that the confiscations that had taken place during Soviet rule remained highly contested among the various religious confessions, and that restitution could only result from careful study and investigation. 500. Several recommendations had been made on the protection of vulnerable groups. Georgia was determined to meet the Millennium Development Goals of ensuring universal primary education. Georgia was also committed to enhancing the protection and reintegration of street children, and had taken significant steps towards these ends. It also elaborated on the comprehensive reform under way in the area of child-care institutions. 501. Georgia had accepted the recommendations calling for greater participation of women in public life and had made significant efforts in this regard. The Government did not, however, intend to introduce legislative quotas, insofar as political parties across the spectrum had expressed their opposition to them during the recent drafting of the Gender Equality Law. 502. Concerning criminal justice, the delegation stressed that judicial reform remained a cornerstone of legal reforms in Georgia. The recently adopted constitutional amendments further strengthened the independence of the judiciary by introducing the principle of the lifetime appointment of judges, which provided the constitutional guarantee of immutability and stability. Georgia could not accept the recommendation calling for the restoration of confidence in the judicial system, since Georgia had inherited a Soviet judiciary characterized by general lack of public trust. Meanwhile, surveys clearly showed that public trust in the judicial system was growing steadily as a result of the reforms undertaken. 503. Fighting ill-treatment was on the top of the Government’s agenda. Numerous human rights institutions, national and international, including the Committee against Torture, had indicated that torture as a systemic problem had disappeared. 504. Close to half a million people had been displaced in Georgia as a result of two waves of ethnic cleansing, in 1991–1993 and 2008, in Abkhazia, Georgia and the Tskhinvali region of South Ossetia, Georgia. The Government had elaborated a strategy and a plan of action with the participation of civil society, internally displaced persons and international organizations. 505. The delegation underlined the fact that, under international law, Georgia had an obligation to protect and promote human rights throughout its whole territory, including GE.12-13630 159