A/HRC/14/3 60. Nicaragua was implementing a gender policy leading to the empowerment of women and encouraging preventive action in the political, economic and organizational fields. A total of 327 training activities had been conducted on the law of equal opportunities, gender violence, security for citizens and family violence, prevention of violence and citizen participation model, including indigenous and Afro- descendant populations. 61. Regarding prisons, United Nations minimum standards are observed. There were eight centres with 4,742 places currently occupied by 5,952 detainees. Overcrowding rates amounted to 25.52 per cent. Nicaragua faced the challenge of improving detainee living conditions. In 2007 and 2008, studies were conducted on pre-investment in two new prisons. 62. With regard to training and work in penitentiary system, 1,200 employees (98 per cent of penitentiary officers trained in human rights) had been trained. 63. A total of 75 per cent of police officers had been trained in human rights and to fight corruption. 64. Regarding the legitimacy of the electoral process, the Constitution stated that the right to vote was guaranteed by the electoral branch. Free and transparent elections had been held. The revolutionary Government submitted itself to the scrutiny of universal suffrage in the 1990s. Electoral law was at the constitutional level, supervised by an independent supreme regulatory body. Elections were held at the national, municipal and regional levels. The supreme electoral body has recently adopted a new regulation for international electoral observers, based on principles of sovereignty and non-interference. 65. The Office of the Procurator for the defence of human rights had been established according to the Paris Principles and was totally independent of State institutions and the Government. It was currently operating in an appropriate way. A number of special prosecutors had been established for vulnerable groups. 66. Regarding the prosecution of human rights defenders, Nicaragua was concerned that, as a result of a media campaign against the Government, inaccurate information had been disseminated. There was no policy of prosecuting human rights defenders. Nicaragua was actively working to protect the work of human rights defenders. In Nicaragua, there were approximately 5,200 registered non-governmental organizations working to defend human rights, and tensions may be attributed to divergent points of views sustained by the organizations supporting government policies and those opposing them. Incidents had been investigated by the internal police investigative unit and prosecutors. 67. Belgium commended the ratification of the second Optional Protocol to International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The situation of human rights defenders was cause for concern, since violence, threats and intimidation, sometimes even by public authorities, were frequent and remained unpunished. It asked about measures to allow human rights defenders carry out their activities freely and peacefully. Belgium was concerned about the criminalization of all forms of abortion, even when justified for therapeutic reasons, in cases of rape or incest. It made recommendations. 68. Finland thanked the efforts to keep up with the reporting requirements of treaty bodies. While appreciating the actions to improve gender equality, Finland noted that the norms and practices did not comply fully with international human rights treaties. It regretted that the electoral law for autonomous regions excluded the population of the Zelaya Central province. Finland asked how Nicaragua guaranteed the right of the people of Zelaya Central to choose their representatives freely in the autonomous government, and about measures to enforce women’s rights. Finland made recommendations. 11