A/HRC/11/5 Women. 9 He also attended, in January 2009, the very good presentation of the State party’s report to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and welcomed the announcement on that occasion, by the President of the Senate, of Haiti’s forthcoming accession to the Optional Protocol to the Convention, a mechanism which makes it possible for organizations and individuals to lodge complaints concerning violations of rights in States parties that have ratified the Protocol and for the Committee to initiate investigations. 68. While these are positive announcements, the independent expert wishes again to draw attention to this national scourge of violence suffered by women and girls, in particular rape in all its forms and especially violence in the domestic sphere, although the true extent of the problem is not fully known owing to a lack of comprehensive figures. According to the Minister on the Status of Women, rape, attempted rape and sexual harassment can form the subject of complaints under the provisions of the Criminal Code which deal with rape, indecent assault and aggravating circumstances relating to the status of the perpetrator, but sexual harassment could in fact be said to be tolerated by society and the State. 69. In practice, notwithstanding the assault on their physical integrity, it is the adverse prejudice against women and pressure by the perpetrator of the violence or his family or even by the victim’s own family which deter them from bringing cases to court through fear of reprisals or scruples about speaking in public on a matter that is both intimate and humiliating. However, the independent expert wishes to point out that the number of incidents of sexual violence against women and girls recorded in recent years has apparently increased but it is not possible to establish with certainty whether this increase is due to trivialization of such violence or to consciousness-raising activities which have persuaded an increasing number of victims to report such acts. 70. The independent expert pays tribute to the intensive work carried out by MINUSTAH and the specialized agencies of the United Nations and Organization of American States and also by NGOs, which, through their awareness and training programmes, contribute to combating violence against women. 71. The independent expert hopes that steps will be taken to adopt the framework law on all forms of violence against women, including domestic violence, which was announced for 2009, and also the special temporary measures required in cases relating to elective posts as well as in cases relating to recruitment and appointive posts and with regard to recruitment in the national police force, which should be a priority. The independent expert also welcomes the Senate’s passing of the law on working conditions of paid domestic staff. He hopes that the National Assembly will include these two instruments in its agenda at an early date and that the legislative bill on filiation and responsible parenthood will also be included in the parliamentary agenda despite the reluctance of those who feel that these bills might jeopardize an order from which they benefit. __________________ 9 This coordinating entity, which is concerned with violence against women, brings together the Ministry on the Status of Women, the Ministry of Security and Justice, the Ministry for Public Health and Population, specialized civil society organizations, relevant United Nations institutions and bodies and the MINUSTAH Human Rights Section and Gender Unit. 17