A/HRC/48/15 discriminatory attitudes that explained that situation through its Gender Equality Action Plan for 2021–2023. 9. Efforts to eliminate violence against women and domestic violence had included adopting preventive measures and improving the legal framework. Latvia acknowledged that, when it had signed the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence in 2016, it had committed to aligning its legal framework and practice with that regional instrument, even though ratification was still pending. 10. Measures had also been taken to address the heightened risk of gender-based violence posed by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. They had included public information campaigns and efforts to strengthen the skills of professionals to identify risks of domestic violence and provide support to victims. 11. Efforts made to eliminate violence against children had included steps taken within the framework of the National Development Plan for 2021–2027 and the operational strategy of the Ministry of the Interior for 2020–2023. They included activities to raise awareness among both children and staff about mobbing in schools. 12. The Constitutional Court had passed two recent judgments that would require legislative changes in order to ensure that same-sex couples could enjoy their rights to family life and ownership. 13. Consultations with civil society were mandatory when drafting legal acts, policies and other documents. It was noteworthy that the number of non-governmental organizations had increased by 10 per cent since 2016. 14. Reforms had been undertaken in the education system aimed at increasing the use of the Latvian language, while continuing to finance ethnic minority education programmes. The authorities were also implementing Roma-specific integration policy measures. 15. Several State institutions, including the police force, had implemented practical measures to help identify and combat hate crimes. Social integration policies also included measures to combat prejudice against people with different ethnic backgrounds and appearances and to increase public tolerance in general. 16. Efforts had been made to combat trafficking in persons through a new action plan for 2021–2023, which was currently pending adoption. It tackled the problem based on prevention, protection, prosecution and partnership. 17. Several measures had been taken to improve enjoyment of the rights of persons with disabilities, including with regard to their access to education and their involvement in designing policies affecting them. 18. In 2020, a law had been adopted that completely ended the designation of “noncitizen” status to newborn children. Latvia had put in place all the preconditions for noncitizens to acquire Latvian citizenship by facilitating naturalization. 19. The Asylum Law, which had entered into force in 2016, ensured that the basic needs of asylum seekers were met on an equal footing with Latvian citizens. Several projects had been implemented to promote the integration of asylum seekers and to combat prejudice against them. 20. The COVID-19 pandemic had affected the enjoyment of human rights and had had an impact in all spheres of life. To minimize its effects, the Government had taken several measures, including providing allowances to employees who were unable to work, extending unemployment benefits, covering sick leave payments related to COVID-19 and introducing various benefits for parents with children at home. B. Interactive dialogue and responses by the State under review 21. During the interactive dialogue, 87 delegations made statements. Recommendations made during the dialogue are to be found in section II of the present report. 3