A/HRC/19/61/Add.1 8. The Special Rapporteur wishes to express his gratitude to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR); the United Nations Country Team, the Resident Coordinator and others involved in organizing the visit, for the excellent assistance prior to and throughout the mission. 9. The Special Rapporteur shared his preliminary findings with the Government at the close of his mission. He sent a preliminary version of the present report to the Government in English on 3 October 2011 and a French language version on 28 November 2011. II. Legal framework A. International level 10. Tunisia is party to the main United Nations human rights treaties prohibiting torture and ill-treatment, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. More recently, on 29 June 2011, the interim Government ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the first Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. On 24 June 2011, Tunisia ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Following an assessment mission from 26 January to 2 February 2011, OHCHR opened the first United Nations human rights office in Tunisia. B. Regional level 11. Tunisia subscribed to the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (1990), a guiding document that does not require ratification. It acceded to the Arab Charter on Human Rights (2004), without ratifying it. It is also a State party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (through accession) and had ratified the Protocol thereto on establishing an African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (2004). C. National level 12. The drafting of a new Constitution will be entrusted to the Constituent Assembly, scheduled to be elected on 23 October 2011. 13. The Special Rapporteur was informed of the initiative of the Ministry of Justice to develop a draft legal framework for the harmonization of national legislation with international human rights standards. He hopes that swift follow-up steps will be taken to reform the national legislation to ensure its compliance with human rights standards and implement the legislative amendments. 14. The Special Rapporteur was informed that the interim Government intended to revise the statute of the Higher Committee on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms to bring it into compliance with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (Paris Principles). He notes the initial efforts to draft a decree for establishing a national human rights institution (NHRI) and reaffirms the need for this institution to be in full compliance with the Paris Principles. However, he regrets that since the removal from office of the newly appointed head of the Higher 5