A/HRC/44/37 established in order to focus efforts on decongesting the country’s prisons, which have a 136 per cent occupancy rate. 16 The Human Rights Adviser engaged with the Presidential Committee on Correctional Service Reform and Decongestion and supported a national workshop on the effective implementation of the Correctional Services Act, including the development of sentencing guidelines for non-custodial measures provided under part II of the Act. 34. In Belarus, the OHCHR Human Rights Adviser supported the United Nations Resident Coordinator and the country team in highlighting issues and recommendations in relation to the country’s drug policy, deprivation of liberty and the use of alternatives to detention in briefings to the parliament. In 2019, OHCHR organized a study visit to Lisbon for Belarussian authorities. This facilitated knowledge-sharing on progressive Portuguese practices in drug policy and related legislation, including alternatives to detention, appropriate medical services and rehabilitation. OHCHR continues to support the discussion on implementation of a progressive drug policy and alternatives to detention in Belarus. Alternatives to detention: pregnant women and women with dependent children 35. Rule 64 of the Bangkok Rules provides for non-custodial sentences for pregnant women and women with dependent children and highlights the necessity of taking the best interests of the child into account. The Bangkok Rules request States to restrict as far as possible the imprisonment of pregnant women or mothers with small children, recognizing that prisons are not suitable places to care for pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, babies and small children. Rule 61 requires that at the sentencing stage, mitigating factors should be considered, including caretaking. 36. In Italy, women represent just under 5 per cent of the prison population. Penitentiary Law No. 62 (2011) protects the relationship between children and mothers who are detainees. Article 1 establishes the prohibition of pretrial detention in prisons for pregnant women and mothers with children up to the age of 6, unless there are exceptional precautionary requirements. The law provides for the placement of mothers with children in specialized “institutes of attenuated custody” for mother or sole father detainees. The institutes are relatively low-security establishments modelled on a residential household. They provide nurses, paramedics, obstetricians, gynaecologists and paediatricians aimed at providing a family-community environment to lower the traumatic impacts of detention on children. Law No. 62 also provides that prison sentences of no more than four years for pregnant women and mothers of children under the age of 10 should be served under specific house arrest arrangements, even if they constitute a residual part of a more severe penalty. 17 C. Access to health care 37. When a State deprives someone of their liberty, it takes on the duty of care to provide preventive, curative and palliative health services (A/65/255, para. 59). Providing adequate health care in prison is a critical challenge for all prison systems. Mandela Rules Nos. 24–35 provide specific guidance on how health-care services in prisons should be organized and the specific duties and responsibilities of health-care staff. In particular, detainees should have the same standards of health care that are available in the community, taking into account the additional risks related to incarceration (see A/HRC/38/36 and A/HRC/42/20, para. 34). 38. Bangkok Rules Nos. 5–18 supplement the Mandela Rules by providing guidance on how to fulfil the specific hygiene and health-care needs of women and address the provision of health care for children who are living with their mothers in prison. The Bangkok Rules further recognize that health care in prisons is often male-oriented and overlooks the specific health-care needs of women, including hygiene and sexual, reproductive and preventative health care. 39. In Honduras in 2019, the Secretary of Health developed a framework agreement for inter-institutional cooperation on comprehensive health care for indigenous and AfroHonduran peoples. The aim of that agreement between the Secretariat of Health, the Ministry 16 17 8 Penal Reform International and Thailand Institute of Justice, “Global prison trends 2019”, p. 10. See contribution from Italy.