CERD/C/LAO/CO/15 page 2 B. Positive aspects 4. The Committee commends the efforts of the State party to reduce poverty, particularly in rural areas and among ethnic groups. 5. The Committee notes with satisfaction that the State party adopted penal measures in 2004 to combat trafficking in persons. 6. The Committee is pleased to learn that the Convention has been translated into Lao. 7. The Committee welcomes the programme of cooperation undertaken by the State party and the United Nations Development Programme relating to the ratification and implementation of international human rights instruments. It invites the State party to use this framework to ensure follow-up to the present concluding observations and recommendations and to seek additional technical assistance from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. 8. The Committee welcomes the signing by the State party in 2000 of the two International Covenants on Human Rights and encourages it to ratify both instruments as soon as possible. C. Subjects of concern and recommendations 9. The Committee, noting that it received the report after a delay of 19 years, invites the State party to respect the timetable for the submission of its future reports. 10. The Committee notes with concern that no clear definition of racial discrimination exists in domestic legislation. The Committee recommends to the State party that it adopt a definition of racial discrimination that includes the elements contained in article 1 of the Convention. 11. The Committee notes with concern that the Convention is not incorporated in domestic legislation and that the question of its rank in the internal legal order has not been settled (art. 2). The Committee invites the State party to take the necessary steps to ensure the effective application of the Convention in domestic law. 12. The Committee regrets that there is no national human rights institution in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (art. 2). The Committee invites the State party to consider the establishment of such an institution, in accordance with the Principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles) (General Assembly resolution 48/134).