A/HRC/14/3 15. Labour had been recognized as both a right and a social responsibility. The State provided for full and productive employment for all Nicaraguans. The unemployment rate was 8 per cent for the total economically active population. Reducing the rate of unemployment was a priority of the human development plan. 16. The right to housing had been a constitutional right since 1987. Nicaragua had introduced a policy with guidelines for granting subsidies and for the establishment of secure mortgage funds, the establishment of credit funds and a bank for construction materials, as well as programmes for legalizing the right to property, particularly housing projects, and the recent agreement with private banks for the expansion of these social housing programmes through the investment of $90 million. 17. Social security was a constitutional right. Through the national plan for human development, the Government was currently working on a proposal for further changes to the current system. 18. The right to a healthy environment was also a constitutional right. The national human rights plan had adopted principles providing for the defence and protection of nature and the environment. Among the wide-ranging programmes in this area, Nicaragua was currently implementing the fourth programme directed and guided in a sustainable way for dealing with national forest ecosystems. Another initiative was the natural resources programme, aimed at providing drinking water supplies and the treatment of waste water, increasing reforested land areas, and the improvement and expansion of protected areas. 19. With regard to civil and political rights, the Government was focused on strengthening the rule of law and legal security. It was promoting a national agreement in the area of criminal justice, with policies and strategies to strengthen the criminal justice system. Nicaragua was seeking a fair and accessible criminal justice system that would preserve and foster the principles of legal security. Through this important process, the new criminal procedural code had gone from inquisitorial to an adversarial system. 20. The Nicaraguan police had a sense of belonging to the community. Deep respect for human beings and human rights was a cross-cutting principle of police doctrine. A recent report on human development concerning civil security drawn up by the United Nations Development Programme recognized that the police enjoyed credibility and was is one of the best police forces in Central America, showing that Nicaragua was one of the safest countries in the region. 21. The prison system was based on the penitentiary regime law and the law on execution of sentences, which provided that their activities be carried out in conformity with constitutional principles, laws and regulations, the code of conduct and international human rights instruments ratified by Nicaragua. 22. Gender equality and the proper position of women in all sectors of society were fundamental and had a cross-cutting foundation. Priority was given to the role played by women in decision-making and in the development of public policies allowing women to be empowered, thus helping to eradicate violence against women. The State had decided to establish units within its institutions tomonitor women’s rights through the “love programme”. 23. Nicaragua was striving to ensure that children were given the right to a happy life and to guarantee to them free social services. The State had enacted a code on childhood and adolescents, implementing a new model for juvenile criminal justice system, which guaranteed due process of law and was orientated towards integrating adolescents into families and the society. By reforming the criminal code, Nicaragua had moved from a penalty-oriented justice system towards a juvenile justice system with a rehabilitative emphasis. 5