A/HRC/37/16 9. The current situation had led to the internal displacement of more than 1.5 million persons in the country, 88 per cent of whom had integrated into the receiving communities. The biggest obstacles to integration were the absence of housing, the absence of regular income and/or the lack of employment. The delegation stressed the efforts made by Ukraine to improve the allocation of social benefits to internally displaced persons, underlining that there was currently no mechanism available to provide such benefits in territories outside the control of the Government. 10. The issue of gender-based violence was being addressed through awareness-raising and information campaigns, the provision of assistance to the victims and the prosecution of offenders. Since October 2016, 26 mobile teams had provided social and psychological assistance to victims. The delegation underlined the findings of the human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine on widespread conflict-related sexual violence against civilians in areas controlled by armed groups in Donbas. Work towards the ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (the Istanbul Convention) was ongoing. 11. In 2016, the Constitution had been amended to strengthen the independence of the judiciary, in particular through the elimination of political influence in the process of establishing courts and appointing judges. Twenty-seven regional free legal aid centres providing assistance in criminal cases, and 528 local centres providing secondary legal aid in administrative and civil cases, had been established in 2013 and 2015, respectively. Since 2015, the list of people entitled to free legal aid had been expanded to include internally displaced persons, victims of domestic violence, veterans and asylum seekers. 12. Article 124 of the Constitution had been amended to allow for the ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court within three years. Revision of domestic criminal law with a view to its harmonization with the Statute was under way. In April 2014, following declarations made by the parliament under article 12 (3) of the Statute, the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court had opened a preliminary investigation into the situation in Ukraine. 13. With regard to corruption, the delegation reaffirmed the commitment of Ukraine to establishing an anti-corruption court as a separate independent body. 14. Regarding the requirement for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to release financial declarations, the Government was working on establishing a system that would not endanger their activities and independence. 15. The penitentiary system in the Ukraine had been demilitarized. As a consequence of reforms the prison population had significantly decreased, which had led to the improvement of conditions in detention facilities. However, overcrowding and poor conditions of detention remained a problem in pretrial detention facilities. Articles 212 and 213 of the Criminal Procedure Code provided for due process safeguards for detainees, and an information technology system for custody records was currently being tested. 16. Ukraine remained committed to preventing torture and ill-treatment and prosecuting the perpetrators. In 2012, a national preventive mechanism had been established as part of the office of the ombudsperson. Furthermore, an independent State bureau of investigations had recently been set up to investigate crimes committed by high-ranking officials, judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officers. The Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment had conducted two visits to the country in 2016, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment had conducted four visits since 2012, and the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment would undertake a visit soon. 17. In 2014, anti-discrimination legislation in Ukraine had been updated to cover direct and indirect discrimination and aiding and abetting discrimination, to grant more powers to the ombudsperson in that area, to prohibit discrimination by private persons and companies and to introduce a mandatory anti-discrimination review of draft laws. In 2015, a national focal point for hate crimes had been established within the national police, and the 3