A/HRC/8/27 Page 12 61. Palestine praised the success of Brazil in terms of promoting education and its valuable experience in that domain, and enquired about sharing its practices with other countries. 62. Belgium commended Brazil on its stance on the abolition of death penalty, as well as on human rights, sexual orientation and sexual identity. It congratulated the Government for its results in reducing poverty, making Brazil one of the few countries to have achieved one of the Millennium Goals in advance. Belgium noted persistent difficulties and human rights violations in the field of public security as well as the efforts made by Brazil to address them. Belgium welcomed the establishment in 2004 and 2007, respectively, of a national programme and of a national plan for the protection of human rights defenders. Belgium recommended that the Government continue and intensify its efforts to reduce poverty and social inequality. It also recommended that Brazil intensify its efforts for the security of human rights defenders and in this regard to reinforce cooperation with all stakeholders, in particular, the states and the military police. Belgium asked Brazil about the perspectives for the implementation of this recommendation. 63. Indonesia congratulated Brazil on its human rights legislation and requested further clarifications on several areas where instances of abuse had been reported, namely with regard to children and women’s rights, excessive use of force by the police, and cases of racial discrimination. Beginning with the rights of the child, Indonesia referred to the issue of juvenile detention and enquired about the most recent policies developed in that field. On women’s rights, Indonesia mentioned cases of discrimination specifically against women of certain rural and ethnic backgrounds, leading to the forced eviction of certain ethnic and indigenous groups. Indonesia raised concern with regard to the poor conditions in prisons and detention centres where detainees were subject to torture and ill-treatment. The delegation of Indonesia questioned Brazil about the measures it has undertaken to combat police impunity in cases of gang crimes involving abusive police officers especially in favelas where police violence is widespread. Lastly, Indonesia raised concern about the existing racial disparity in Brazil and the low impact of the current policies to combat such abuses. 64. Japan welcomed Brazil’s efforts to enhance regional cooperation in Latin America. It wished to have more information on how effective the Government’s regional efforts have been in upgrading human rights nationally and collectively for other States of the region. Japan was also impressed by the way Brazil reflected upon its past history of the slavery system and its recognition that this system has affected social discrimination. Japan noted the exemplary steps taken by Brazil in addressing this issue. It asked whether statistical figures illustrate how much fairness has been achieved in educational institutions. Lastly Japan praised Brazil’s actions to fight sexual exploitation of children and adolescents and welcomed the Third Conference on this issue to be hosted by Brazil. Japan wished to know how acutely the Government views the relation between this initiative and its efforts. 65. Mauritania requested more details on measures taken by the Government to counter slavery, especially with regard to the slavery of population of African descent. 66. Nigeria stressed that it is compelling for the vulnerable group of Africans and African descendants to be properly integrated into the society, treated with dignity and given equal opportunities in terms of education, health care, employment and participation in the political arena. Nigeria, while being encouraged by the efforts made to institute programmes to integrate the quilombos, indicated that a lot more needs to be done to fundamentally address these challenges. Nigeria recommended that Brazil could succeed with greater pace in land reform in the castaway areas by pursuing public policies targeted at improving the life of African descendants and minorities.