A/HRC/19/14 gender in their sectors. This has been complemented by the appointment of Gender Focal Persons at Director Level in all Ministries and Departments. The Government also introduced gender budgeting to ensure the operationalization of the National Gender Policy. In order to assist women to access finances for their income-generating projects, the Government had put in place a Women’s Development Fund in addition to other specific loans. 55. In terms of women’s participation in politics and decision-making, the Government has made some strides. For the first time in the history of the country, women held key governmental positions. However, more still needed to be done and women were lobbying the Government for the adoption of constitutional quotas to bring more women in politics and decision-making. 56. Zimbabwe stressed that sanctions imposed illegally on the country have had negative effects and prevented it from achieving some of the Millennium Development Goals, as they prevented it from accessing the soft and development loans from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Zimbabwe had enjoyed various achievements in education following the implementation of the Early Childhood Development Policy in 2005. 57. Zimbabwe has achieved a literacy rate of 92 per cent, the highest literacy rate in Africa according to the United Nations Development Programme assessment of 2010. Access to higher education has also increased, with nine State and four private universities. Zimbabwe has achieved gender parity at primary-school level and a 51/49 proportion at the secondary-school level. Through affirmative measures, universities had a nearly 40 per cent female enrolment. 58. Zimbabwe indicated that the GPA was an internal arrangement among political parties. Its evolution and its implementation were the responsibility of political parties alone. 59. The Democratic Republic of the Congo welcomed the efforts undertaken to set up an institutional framework for the promotion and protection of human rights and noted with appreciation that Zimbabwe was party to several international and regional human rights instruments. It made recommendations. 60. Burkina Faso highlighted the actions carried out in the framework of the National Plan of Action in favour of children. It also noted that political and economic instability had weakened the capacity of the country to provide the social services essential to the promotion of human rights. Burkina Faso made recommendations. 61. Singapore noted that Zimbabwe had achieved impressive results in several important areas. However, it underlined that the country continued to face significant challenges from the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Singapore made recommendations. 62. Viet Nam asked the delegation whether it could share the measures applied or to be applied to assure the right to food for the population, especially for those who lived in remote and rural areas. Viet Nam made recommendations. 63. Austria asked how Zimbabwe had addressed the problem of impunity and had ensured an independent work by prosecutorial authorities and how it had investigated the cases of alleged summary executions, torture and sexual violence in June and July 2008. Austria wanted also to know how Zimbabwe would reduce pretrial detention. Finally, it asked whether corporal punishment was used as a disciplinary measure in penal institutions. Austria made recommendations. 64. The Czech Republic made recommendations. 9