A/HRC/13/10 56. Portugal noted that the Parity Law adopted in 2006 established states that any list of three or more candidates for Parliament, the European Parliament and for local authorities must ensure minimum participation of 33 per cent of each sex. The law has been fully applied for the first time to the local, national and the European elections that took place this year and produced effects in increasing the number of women elected. The Commission for Immigration and Gender Equality will launch a study to assess the degree of the implementation of law in order for the Parliament to evaluate the impact of this law in 2011. 57. Portugal had set up an action plan for immigrant integration for 2007–2009 with a holistic approach based on the participation of 13 different ministries. The plan was publicly discussed and civil society, including immigrants associations, was highly mobilized. One of the priority areas of this plan was on employment and professional training particularly the integration challenge. 58. Portugal noted that the Roma had access to important set of general programmes and measures aimed at individuals and groups living in situations of poverty and exclusion. These included the Integration Social Income, housing programmes, measures for social protection and school social action. Additional measures specially aimed at the integration of the Roma communities included a pilot project encompassing the creation of 15 Roma municipal mediators so that they could establish close relations with local services and organizations and local Roma communities. 59. Although the budget for the national mechanism for gender equality had been slightly reduced, the budgets for financing the initiatives of civil society, including nongovernmental organizations working for gender equality and building citizenship and nondiscrimination based on the grounds of sex were strongly increased for 2007–2013 (83 million Euros) 60. Portugal stated that protection of the rights of migrant workers was fundamental and such rights were already protected in the legal system. The fact that Portugal did not ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families did not hamper in any way the rights of migrants in need of protection as most of the rights were already covered by other international covenants and the European Convention of Human Rights that Portugal is a party to. Portugal emphasized that Portuguese law guaranteed the basic human rights of all migrant workers and the members of their families regardless of their status such as access to health, services and education. 61. Portugal noted that the resolution by the Parliament reinforced the national strategy for social protection and social inclusion for 2008–2010 by acknowledging the need for permanent monitoring of poverty in Portugal and for defining the poverty thresholds. 62. Portugal noted that racial discrimination was a crime and that racial hostility was also an aggravating circumstance for certain crimes and could also be taken into account in the determination of the measures of penalty. 63. Referring to the programme of action to eliminate female genital mutilation, the Russian Federation asked about the seriousness of the problem. It asked why most of Portugal’s periodic reports to treaty bodies were late and why Portugal had only replied to 4 out of 15 questionnaires sent by the Special Procedures. It noted the persistence of human trafficking, despite significant efforts to prevent it. It made a recommendation. 64. Austria welcomed legislative initiatives to overcome discrimination against women, and asked about the implementation of the action plan against domestic violence 2007– 2010. While welcoming recent reforms in the field of criminal law, Austria expressed concern on reports of ill-treatment of prisoners by security guards, enquiring about the 10