However, a lot of work still needs to be done to eradicate the remaining discriminatory provisions in some laws, customs and practices as well as in popularizing the texts relating to the rights of women and children. Policies and Programmes developed on Gender Issues 93. To give effect to the rights laid down by the Constitution and the laws passed by Parliament, several policies and programmes have been developed, adopted and implemented by the government. Table 3 presents some of the policies and programmes.  Implementation of the Protocol at the national courts 94. Article 215 of the Constitution of 18 February, 2006 provides that “International Treaties and Agreements regularly concluded have, when published, greater authority than the law, provided that each treaty or agreement is implemented by the other party”. This clearly means that the DRC belongs to a unitary system and therefore all international and regional legal instruments duly ratified by the DRC within the framework of the United Nations and the African Union are an integral part of the internal legal order. Furthermore, the Constitution devolves a higher authority on these Treaties or Agreements provided that the other party implements them.However, the enforcement of ratified treaties in the Congolese Courts and tribunals is subject to their publication in the Official Journal.  The relevant State institutions for the implementation of the Maputo Protocol The Ministry of Women, Family and Children’s Affairs 95. The first and foremost institution involved in the implementation of the Maputo Protocol is the government through the Ministry of Women, Family and Children’s Affairs. The historical background of the Ministry starts from the 1960’s during which period the first woman was appointed in politics. From the onset, the Ministry was responsible for Social Affairs and it has gone through a lot of changes both in its form and its designation, organization and in the content of its responsibilities. 96. Through all these changes, a permanent feature has to be highlighted in the concept: it focuses on women, their status and rights which take centre-stage in the development of this ministry, though the responsibilities have not consistently reflected the changes in gender-related concepts. The fact still remains that the changes in the designation and organization have not always followed a change at the conceptual level concerning functions and organizational charts. 97. Generally, the responsibilities of the Ministry have always varied between the concept based on women’s affairs and the status of women and the cross-cutting concept of gender and equality between men and women. Currently, the responsibilities are as follows: o Protection and promotion of the status of women, the family and children in collaboration with the Ministries concerned. o Study and implementation of all the measures intended to bring to a halt any form of discrimination and violence perpetrated against women in order to ensure equality of rights with men. o Development of the legal and institutional framework to ensure women’s participation in the development of the nation and equitable representation in national, provincial and local institutions. o Collaboration with the Ministries by focusing on (i) human rights; (ii) education (iii) justice (iv) health, and (v) social affairs in order to improve the status of woman and children. o Promotion and popularization of all the studies and research related to the condition of women and children. o Effective integration of women in various policies and programmes in the DRC. The National Council for Women and its provincial Representation 27