A/HRC/17/2 the labour market, and was encouraged by the acceptance of the recommendations to combat racial discrimination and xenophobia. Algeria would have liked to see Austria accept the recommendation on accession to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. 405. Morocco welcomed Austria’s commitment to the universal periodic review, reflected in, inter alia, its acceptance of 131 recommendations of 161 made. It commended the inclusion of and expanded consultation with civil society throughout the review process. The review of Austria showed its efforts to combat racism and xenophobia, and to improve the situation of migrants and promote economic, social and cultural rights to give a constitutional status to these rights. Morocco was satisfied with Austria’s replies and explanations on these areas. Morocco also congratulated Austria on its commitment to submit a mid-term report on the implementation of the recommendations. 406. The Islamic Republic of Iran welcomed Austria’s acceptance of many recommendations, but remained concerned over the mounting trend of Islamophobia, including provocative motions and remarks by some right-wing parties against Islam and Muslims, alarming cases of hate speech and hostility by some politicians, parties and media, and discriminatory attitudes and manifestations of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance against migrant communities, Muslims in particular. It called upon Austria to take effective measures to address recommendations made during the session of the Working Group, including those made by the Islamic Republic of Iran. 407. The Republic of Moldova appreciated the acceptance of the two recommendations it had made. It expressed its satisfaction for Austria’s incorporation of children’s rights into the federal Constitution in accordance with the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Republic of Moldova was also pleased that the ratification process of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and the inclusion of enforced disappearances as a criminal offence in the Austrian Penal Code were on the way. 3. General comments made by other relevant stakeholders 408. Verein Südwind Entwicklungspolitik noted Austria’s acceptance of the recommendation to increase its official development assistance to 0.7 per cent of GDP, and called for binding legislation and a market increase in development cooperation funding. Südwind mentioned the envisaged budget cut in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs over the period 2012–2015, which would be disproportionally greater in the field of bilateral aid for reducing poverty. Südwind was critical of Austria shifting its development policy away from combating poverty to setting new priorities and focusing on the Black Sea region and the Danube basin, where it primarily pursued its foreign trade interests. 409. The Islamic Human Rights Commission expressed its concern at discrimination against Muslim citizens and foreigners residing in Austria, and stated that more than 745 cases of racial abuse against Muslim women who chose to wear the headscarf had been reported; the number of cases of verbal abuse was also on the rise. Such discriminatory acts were a violation of the European Directive on Equal Opportunity, to which Austria was a party. The anti-Muslim hate crimes in Austria included incidents where more than 60 Muslim tombstones had been desecrated. It urged the Government of Austria to take the measures necessary to safeguard the rights of the Muslim community and foreigners. 410. ILGA Europe and COC Netherlands commended Austria’s acceptance of recommendations to include gender identity and sexual orientation perspectives in measures against incitement to hatred. They recommended extending de jure and de facto protection against workplace gender identity discrimination in accordance with the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. They recommended regarding GE.12-13630 145