A/HRC/48/14 96. Côte d’Ivoire congratulated Seychelles for the progress made since its second universal periodic review, and encouraged the Government to continue its efforts in the field of human rights. 97. Cuba thanked the delegation of Seychelles for the presentation of its national report and wished Seychelles successful implementation of accepted recommendations. 98. The Democratic Republic of the Congo commended Seychelles for amending the Children Act of 1982, which now contained a provision prohibiting all forms of corporal punishment of children. 99. Denmark commended Seychelles for decriminalizing same-sex relations and for adopting the Domestic Violence Act. However, it remained concerned by continued acts of violence and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons. 100. Djibouti appreciated the measures taken by Seychelles to implement the recommendations accepted during its last universal periodic review, which had resulted in the strengthening of its normative and institutional framework. 101. The Dominican Republic valued the strengthening by Seychelles of its normative and institutional frameworks aimed at promoting and protecting human rights. 102. Egypt commended Seychelles on the establishment of its national human rights commission, its legislative reforms for the protection of children, and its efforts to fight corruption and money laundering. 103. Eswatini noted the progress made by Seychelles in implementing the recommendations of the second cycle of the universal periodic review. 104. Ethiopia welcomed the establishment by Seychelles of the human rights commission. It also commended the adoption of the National Labour Migration Policy and the increase in the number of children in compulsory education. 105. Fiji welcomed the delegation of Seychelles and commended it on the adoption of the Domestic Violence Act. 106. Senegal noted that, despite its environmental vulnerability, Seychelles had continued with efforts to ensure that the rights of persons with disabilities were taken into account in disaster risk reduction and climate change plans and adaptation measures. 107. In its concluding remarks, Seychelles noted that the marriage of women below the age of 18 years would be prohibited with the entry into force of the Civil Code of 2021. It also stressed that the Government had a zero-tolerance approach on the issue of drugs, reflected in the increase in searches and arrests of drug traffickers. It recognized that drug abuse was a cross-cutting issue that required coordination at all levels, including health care, education, the police, the judiciary and others. 108. Seychelles was continuing in its efforts to eliminate all kinds of abuse of children and in 2015 had established the Police Child Protection Team to handle investigations into reported cases of child abuse, further strengthening the country’s child protection structure. 109. Seychelles was proud of its achievements and aware of the challenges it faced. It underlined that climate change had an evident impact on human rights, not only in small island developing States but all over the world, and called upon the international community to keep pushing this agenda further at all forums. 110. Seychelles extended its gratitude to the universal periodic review secretariat and to all the delegations that participated in its review. It considered that frank and open dialogue was crucial to further the promotion and protection of human rights. Seychelles was committed to studying the recommendations received and would communicate its decisions to all Member States in due course. 9