A/HRC/44/5 ratification of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the two substantive Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. 103. Maldives commended the Government of Guinea for its efforts to strengthen the education system and to implement the national poverty reduction strategy. It also welcomed the national gender policy as an important step towards promoting equality and equity. 104. Saudi Arabia commended the steps taken to implement several accepted recommendations from the previous universal periodic review, especially those related to social rights and the right to development. 105. Myanmar commended measures taken by Guinea to establish new institutions and strengthen existing ones in the field of human rights, and to implement a human rights-based approach to development. 106. Mauritania welcomed the significant progress made by Guinea since the previous universal periodic review, including the adoption of the law to prevent, detect and combat corruption and of the law on equal opportunities for persons with disabilities. 107. Serbia stated that Guinea had shown significant respect for the universal periodic review and its previous outcomes, and welcomed the efforts and measures taken to improve the situation of women and girls. 108. Luxembourg welcomed the positive developments in Guinea, in particular the reforms undertaken by the Government, such as the adoption of the current Criminal Code, which no longer mentioned the Death Penalty, and the revision of its national gender policy in 2018. 109. In its closing statement, the delegation of Guinea addressed additional issues, including albinism, prison conditions, sexual orientation and forced marriage. A law was being drafted for the protection of the rights of persons with albinism. Guinea had 28 prisons, which were mostly overcrowded. Alternative sentences had been incorporated into the Criminal Code in order to deal with the issue of overcrowding in prisons. Instead of people being sent systematically to prison, a person who had been convicted could carry out community service. The Government was training judges to be able to hand down such sentences. 110. Pretrial detention was a major factor in prison overcrowding. To help address that, the Code of Criminal Procedure had been amended to limit the pretrial detention period to four months, and provision had been made for a dedicated judge to assess sentencing, who could evaluate the detention of persons and potentially order his or her release. 111. Homosexual relations were criminalized in most African Muslim countries. The laws in Guinea reflected the culture and morality of the country, thus homosexual relations were made a crime. When the country’s morality changed, the law would evolve and the phenomenon of sexual orientation would be accepted as an acquired right. However, it should be noted that despite the prohibition, no citizen was prosecuted for their alleged sexual orientation. Although frowned upon in Guinea, those people were currently tolerated. 112. Forced marriage was a crime in Guinea, with aggravating circumstances when the child involved was under a certain age. Female genital mutilation was also a crime. An awareness-raising campaign was also under way to educate the population on the latter issue. II. Conclusions and/or recommendations 113. The following recommendations will be examined by Guinea, which will provide responses in due time, but no later than the forty-forth session of the Human Rights Council. 113.1 Consider ratifying the main international human rights instruments to which the country is not yet a party (Côte d’Ivoire); 113.2 Ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (France) (Mali) (Montenegro) (Uruguay); 10