A/HRC/20/25 social protection system to improve coverage and effectiveness; addressing discriminatory practices; intensifying efforts to combat corruption; and improving cooperation between Government and civil society groups. 42. In the following sections, the Special Rapporteur analyses the extent of the implementation of these recommendations. The Government did not reply to the questionnaire sent in preparation of the present report. The Special Rapporteur relied upon information drawn from the United Nations Resident Coordinator, United Nations and donor agencies, civil society organizations and treaty-body reports. A. Legal and institutional framework 43. In her mission report, the Special Rapporteur recommended that the State incorporate fundamental human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights, into its constitutional reforms. In November 2011, the new Government appointed a technical committee to draft a new constitution; the Special Rapporteur urges the committee to ensure that economic, social and cultural rights are included in the final draft. 44. The Special Rapporteur calls on the technical committee to heed the recommendations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW/C/ZMB/CO/5-6, para. 13) and ensure that the constitution prohibit discrimination against women without exceptions. The Special Rapporteur understands that the current draft constitution includes a provision for social pensions for people aged 60 and over, and calls on the Government to maintain this provision, in line with her previous recommendations. 45. The Special Rapporteur had called on Zambia to ratify a number of international human rights instruments relating to the protection of persons in situations of extreme poverty in Zambia. She congratulates Zambia for having ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2010, and reiterates her call for the ratification of additional treaties, particularly the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and their incorporation into national legislation. 46. The Special Rapporteur had also emphasized the importance of improving the participation of civil society in the development and implementation of laws and policies. Implementation of the Non-Governmental Organisations Act has not yet begun, according to information received. The Special Rapporteur thus reiterates her recommendation to remove the provisions in the Act which impose excessive restrictions on the activities of civil society organizations. B. Social protection 47. Since the Special Rapporteur’s visit, Zambia has adopted the SNDP, with the theme ―Sustained economic growth and poverty reduction‖, and the Vision 2030. The SNDP proposes a significant scaling-up of the country’s social protection programmes in the period 2011-2015, including the expansion of the social cash transfer schemes (now implemented in 15 districts), from 26,500 to 69,000 beneficiaries, and the nationwide Public Welfare Assistance Scheme, from 75,000 to 250,000 beneficiaries. 48. The Special Rapporteur considered the social protection programmes of Zambia, particularly the Social Cash Transfer Schemes, in her mission report, and made a number of recommendations. The SNDP reflects some of those recommendations, particularly the need to drastically scale up programmes in order to respond to the needs of people living in extreme poverty. However, the Special Rapporteur notes that Zambia has not acted upon her strong recommendations with respect to increasing expenditure on social protection. 10