A/HRC/13/56 1. Views expressed by the State under review on the recommendations and/or conclusions, as well as on its voluntary commitments and on the outcome 425. The head of the delegation, Edith Harxhi, the deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, stated that the Council enjoyed the full-fledged support of the Government of Albania, and extended its thanks to all delegations that in the universal periodic review session of December 2009 had highlighted Albania’s accomplishments in the human rights area, and suggested legal and structural improvements. A special thanks went to the troika of delegations from the United States of America, the Russia Federation, Mauritius and the secretariat. 426. Since the December session, the activities of the Government had been intense, a large part of them being a follow-up to the recommendations made by delegations. 427. In early January 2010, the Government announced that it would conduct a population census in 2011, which will also include the question of ethnic and religious affiliation. To that end, the Central Census Commission had held a series of meetings with representatives of associations of minorities and religious communities. With regard to the definition of ethnic and religious affiliation, the census would comply with Albania’s international commitments. In particular, regarding the definition of national affiliation, it would refer to the requirements specified in article 32 of the European Convention on the Protection of Minorities. 428. At the end of January 2010, the Government of Albania decided to set up the Institute for the Crimes of Communism. This initiative related to the necessity of bringing to light and punishing the crimes committed in Albania during the 50 years of communist rule. During that period, the bloodiest regime ever of all Eastern European countries adopted a repressive internal policy against all political opponents, and imposed a total isolation of the country from the rest of the world. The terrible toll of those days was tens of thousands of persons executed and hundreds interned. 429. Indeed, a great effort had been made in the past 20 years to integrate into the political, economic and social life former politically persecuted persons by communism. Nonetheless, a thorough investigation and punishment of crimes perpetrated by that regime was an absolute necessity. Accordingly, the establishment of the Institute for the Crimes of Communism served to keep intact the memories, and to inform new generations, of the suffering under that regime. 430. In early February 2010, Parliament adopted the Law on Protection from Discrimination. In the universal periodic review session of December 2009, several delegations highlighted the absence of an exhaustive legal framework aimed at the protection of all categories vulnerable to discrimination. Today, in legal terms, Albania had met this commitment. The relevant legislative activity broke new ground in Albania. The elaboration of the anti-discrimination law was a contribution by an Albanian nongovernmental organization, which had worked on it for over three years with the help of the best international expertise in the field. The final version of the draft law was elaborated with almost all groups of interest and then referred to Parliament for endorsement. Since under the Constitution, a non-governmental organization does not enjoy the right of legislative initiative, a group of members of Parliament from the governing majority supported this initiative. Subsequently, the draft was reviewed by various parliamentary commissions and was unanimously adopted on 4 February 2010. 431. The anti-discrimination law governs the implementation and compliance with the principle of equality on the grounds of gender, race, colour, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, political, religious, philosophical, economic, education or social status, pregnancy, parental affiliation, health status, domicile and others. 143