A/HRC/10/82 Page 5 victims’ rights, establishing an independent judicial process regarding juridical benefits to the demobilized: rights of truth, justice, integral redress, historic memory preservation, collective victims redress; victim protection duty; a commission for reconciliation and reparation integrated with a majority of people from the civil society and State control entities; regional commissions for the restitution of land that had been appropriated by illegal groups; and alternative prison penalties subject to serious commitments by the criminal and their repeal should the imposed obligations be breached. The versions of those who have been subject to this law would have enabled 2,908 cases to be opened within ordinary justice, including 172 against politicians, 112 against members of the armed forces and another 35 against other public servants. The Government has also issued a decree creating a reparation programme through administrative channels that will demand investments of some 5.5 billion dollars, and the Congress is currently discussing a law for victims’ rights. 11. Answering questions on economic, social and cultural rights, the delegation stated that the drafting of the Colombian Development Plan for 2006-2010 included a rights perspective and was intended to comply with the Millennium Development Goals. It also said the Government had implemented a policy of conditional subsidies to the poorest sectors of the population, which paired with the sustained economic development of recent years have helped reduce poverty from 55.7 per cent to 45.1 per cent, and of extreme poverty from 21.6 per cent to 12 per cent between 2002 and 2006. Colombia reported having attained coverage of 94 per cent in basic education and 31 per cent in higher education. Education coverage programmes are accompanied by the implementation of the National Education Plan in human rights, quality improvement programmes and special policies for the most vulnerable sectors. It mentioned that the population subsidized by the State has doubled, reaching 23 million over the last five years; Colombia expected to attain universal health coverage by 2010. It also reported that the budget for supporting social interest housing had increased from $75 million to $330 million per year; $125 million were allocated yearly to housing for internally displaced population. 12. Regarding children’s rights, Colombia highlighted the issuing of the Code of Childhood and Adolescence; the drafting and application of the plan of action to prevent and eradicate commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescent; a strategy to eradicate child work that reduced it from 12.9 per cent in 2001 to 8.9 per cent in 2005; the budget of the Family Welfare Institute, which has increased form $311 million to $1,092 million between 2002 and 2008; the Inter-sectorial Commission to prevent recruiting and utilization of children by illegal groups; and participation by 3,712 youngsters in integral assistance programmes for demobilized populations conducted with UNICEF. With regard to women, Colombia highlighted the implementation of the policy for women constructing peace and development; the national agreement for equity between women and men, signed by State entities; the average participation of women in the Government ministries (30 per cent in leading offices); and the Gender Issues Observatory having been highlighted by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean as best practice in the continent. 13. On the subject of displaced persons, the delegation stated that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees had acknowledged that Colombia is the country that makes the greatest efforts to attend to internally displaced persons in the world, also stating that the budget allocated to the internally displaced increased from $65 million to $442 million between 2002 and 2008; that 80 per cent of displaced families registered receive emergency humanitarian aid; and that internally displaced persons participate in all decision-making processes for public policies regarding displacement. With reference to ethnic groups, the delegation said that the Colombian population includes 10 per cent of the Afro-Colombian