A/HRC/10/29 recognized the practical difficulties faced by the smallest island States in meeting their universal periodic review obligations. For that reason, New Zealand had convened in February 2009, in Auckland, a seminar to assist officials of Pacific island Governments to work through the review process. At the seminar, Tuvalu representatives, who had already gone through the review in December 2008, were able to provide valuable insights for their colleagues from other Pacific countries and had contributed greatly to making the seminar a success. (c) General comments made by other relevant stakeholders 704. Amnesty International welcomed many of the recommendations made by States to Tuvalu, including on cooperating with OHCHR to strengthen legislation related to family, land and sexual offences against children, and to establish a national human rights commission based on the Paris Principles. It also welcomed recommendations to develop a comprehensive strategy to reduce domestic violence in Tuvalu, including through raising public awareness and encouraging greater involvement by Government agencies and civil society in efforts to address domestic violence and gender discrimination. It reiterated its call to Tuvalu to develop and enact legislation to protect women and children from violence, in particular domestic violence. It indicated that prevailing cultural notions of women’s status continued to be a key factor in perpetuating violence against women in Tuvalu. It therefore urged Tuvalu to support recommendations to eliminate legislation that had a discriminatory effect against women, and to amend the Constitution to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex and gender. It considered that gender violence could not be eradicated without addressing the underlying factors that cause or contribute to gender discrimination. It welcomed Tuvalu’s support for recommendations to ratify, with the assistance of OHCHR, a wide range of human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. 705. Earthjustice welcomed and encouraged the positive response of Tuvalu concerning its efforts to ratify all major human rights treaties and to establish a national human rights institution respecting the Paris Principles in order to strengthen human rights in the country. It stated that Tuvalu unfortunately illustrated how human rights were affected by climate change, such as the right to food, the right to water or the right to adequate housing. Earthjustice encouraged Tuvalu to promote access to information, education and public participation in environmental and climate change matters. The situation in Tuvalu also showed that the right to an ecologically sustainable environment could not be protected by national measures alone. The right to assistance in emergency situations and possible refugee rights could only be granted by the active involvement of the international community, but the responsibility of the international community was not limited to assistance measures. Furthermore, it noted that the fate of Tuvalu exemplified how climate change mitigation measures were also a direct contribution to the prevention of human rights violations. Earthjustice called on the Council to consider the whole range of measures needed to make it possible for Tuvalu to protect the human rights of its people. It called on Tuvalu to participate actively in the future discussions on this issue at the Council as well as in the negotiations of the post-Kyoto regime, where the human rights implications of the struggle against climate change would have to be taken into consideration. 706. The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network noted, with reference to paragraph 14 of the Working Group report, that during the interactive dialogue in the Working Group, the head of the Tuvalu delegation stated that his country respected the rights of persons of all sexual orientations, but that the question of legal protection in the Constitution would need to be carefully considered. In this regard, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network appreciated the openness of the delegation to discussion and relevant actions of Tuvalu in 204 GE.09-17451