A/HRC/41/16 vulnerable groups. It welcomed the creation of an interministerial committee on the protection of women migrants. 68. Serbia commended the Dominican Republic for its efforts to implement the recommendations received during the previous universal periodic review cycle, particularly regarding the improvement of the situation of women and children. 69. Seychelles commended the Dominican Republic for its efforts to eradicate child labour, including the implementation of the National Strategic Plan against Child Labour. It noted with appreciation the steps taken to address trafficking in persons, including the operationalization of a specialized shelter for adult victims of trafficking. 70. Slovenia commended the Dominican Republic for the progress made since the previous cycle, including the abolishment of compulsory pregnancy testing and HIV/AIDS testing as a condition of employment, efforts to improve the education system, and the advances in the political participation of women at the 2016 elections. 71. Spain noted with appreciation the adoption of the National Human Rights Plan, the establishment of the Ombudsman’s Office and the creation of the Directorate against Gender Violence in the Attorney General’s Office. 72. The delegation of the Dominican Republic stated that the draft general act on equality and non-discrimination was a priority, and the Government had been striving for its adoption as soon as possible. That draft act was currently under discussion with various groups. 73. Efforts were being made by the Judicial Council, which had issued various resolutions with a view to achieving a more effective and efficient criminal policy, with the priority of solving the issue of pretrial detention. In 2018, mobile courts had been set up to hear, from prisons, the preliminary hearings of accused persons. Similarly, ad hoc notification centres had been established in prisons to avoid the delay generated by transferring inmates to court administrative offices. 74. In 2018, the Attorney General had launched the Prison System Humanization Plan to improve the treatment of inmates, promote their rehabilitation and reintegration into society, and solve the overcrowding of prisons through extensions to and restructuring of existing centres, as well as the construction of new facilities. 75. In order to combat the trafficking and smuggling of migrants, the Government had an inter-institutional system, chaired by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that analysed the prevention and prosecution of those crimes. 76. In 2016, the first shelter for assisting and protecting adult victims of trafficking had been opened. The “No Excuses” campaign had been developed by the Attorney General and Office of the Vice-President, together with UNICEF, to raise public awareness of sexual exploitation of children and adolescents. 77. The Central Electoral Board, which was in charge of the Civil Registry, together with the Ministry of the Presidency, signed an agreement to achieve timely universal registration of births through Civil Registry offices in hospitals, as well as to promote late birth declarations in situations of vulnerability. In that regard, 67 offices had been set up in hospitals and mobile operations had been carried out to process late birth declarations in various rural and urban areas, thus reducing the administrative procedures to obtain such declarations. 78. The State of Palestine noted the efforts made by the Dominican Republic since the previous universal periodic review and urged it to consider extending a standing invitation to the special procedure mandate holders of the Human Rights Council. It also commended the Dominican Republic for the development of strategies to combat discrimination and promote equality. 79. Switzerland welcomed the efforts made by the Dominican Republic to combat gender inequality and gender-based violence. It was concerned about discrimination and violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons and reports on the excessive use of provisional detention measures. 8