A/HRC/26/7 governments had paid to the prison system reflected the increased interest in the protection of human rights and respect for the dignity of people deprived of their liberty. One success achieved was the adoption of cross-cutting intervention strategies, which provided a range of responses involving the participation of the Secretary of State and other State bodies. Uruguay had made progress towards the goal of reducing overcrowding by mid-2014; the measures were expected to result in a surplus of places by 2016. Substantial support had been received from the international community through projects that had strengthened the prison reform process overall and the related institutions. Ms. Fulco expressed hope that the action taken over the past four years had been clearly reflected in the presentation she had made and in the additional documents that were being made available to all delegations. Uruguay welcomed the recommendations made by States and the models of good practice that had been shared. 114. Álvaro Garcé said that, as the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Prison System, he could fully confirm that significant reform of the prison system in Uruguay had been under way for eight years, and that the results, in terms of infrastructure and management reform, were already visible. The Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner had been working with the national human rights institution. Questions had been raised about the regulation of habeas corpus, which had existed in the Constitution since 1917. A project that would create an additional mechanism for the protection of detainees was being considered by the House of Representatives. 115. Graciela Jorge, Executive Coordinator, Secretariat for Human Rights of the Presidency, emphasized the commitment of the executive branch to addressing human rights violations which had occurred during the pre-dictatorship and dictatorship periods, from 1968 to 1985. Owing to efforts made since 2000, the forced disappearance of 178 Uruguayans had been recognized by 2014. One clear example of institutional strengthening was the establishment of the Secretariat for Human Rights to address cases from the recent past. The Secretariat, which included university teams, worked daily on historical and anthropological investigations. Anthropological investigations included exploratory surveys to search for the remains of disappeared persons. To date, victims had lodged 204 complaints of human rights violations from the recent past with the country’s judicial headquarters. Uruguay was also collaborating with judicial bodies in Argentina, Chile and Italy. The Secretariat also responded to requests from people who were looking into their origins, namely, people who believed they were the children of disappeared persons. 116. Ambassador Federico Perazza, Director of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responded to questions on the implementation of the laws on sexual and reproductive rights and on the voluntary termination of pregnancy. The regulation of the laws was coordinated by the Ministry of Public Health, and clearly defined the elements relating to conscientious objection. He recalled that, in recent years, with the implementation of the current law, there had been no cases of maternal death due to unsafe abortions, while previously they had represented 30 per cent of maternal mortality in the country. 117. The national plan of human rights that was being developed was focused on the human rights dimension, but was also cross-cutting, and would also provide a framework for living together. It would soon be presented to the Council of Ministers; there would be a consultation with civil society, and the plan would be fully operational by the end of 2014. 118. The National Plan against Racism and Discrimination, in line with the United Nations model, had expanded the concept of discrimination. The Government hoped to complete it in the second half of 2014 and present it to civil society for consultation, with the expectation that it would be fully operational in 2015. 13