A/HRC/41/33/Add.1 automatically include pretrial detention. The experts recall that, pursuant to resolution 1/08 of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights relating to principles and best practices on the protection of persons deprived of liberty in the Americas, preventive deprivation of liberty must be applied only within the strictly necessary limits. 65. According to the information received during the visit, most women in the prison in Tegucigalpa come from a precarious socioeconomic background and have been incarcerated for drug-related crimes. The experts observed poor conditions of detention, such as substandard infrastructure, unsanitary conditions, insufficient rehabilitation programmes, poor medical care and serious overcrowding, including in the “home” where children are placed with their mothers. Honduran law provides that children of women prisoners have the right to be cared for by their mothers inside the prison during their first two years of life. A court resolution can extend that period for up to two additional years when it is in the child’s best interests to do so. The experts recall that international standards encourage the use of alternatives to imprisonment for crimes carrying short prison sentences and for incarcerated mothers of small children. 37 66. The experts were informed during the visit that women requesting conjugal visits were subjected to various invasive procedures and medical checks, including tests for HIV and forced contraception, which often effectively prevented them from exercising that right. More stringent requirements for unmarried partners, coupled with the prohibition of samesex marriage, has discriminatory effects on unmarried and lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex women prisoners. Furthermore, the experts were informed of a new set of rules of procedure for visiting people in prison adopted in 2016. 38 Visitors need to obtain several documents and fulfil numerous requirements to obtain a permit that lasts for only a few months and then has to be renewed. These documents are costly – they can amount to 3,000 lempiras ($124) yearly – and disproportionally affect people living in poverty. V. Conclusions and recommendations A. Conclusions 67. The State has shown efforts to improve the situation of women in the country, and has instituted measures at the legislative, policy and institutional levels. The experts met a number of committed individuals, both in the central Government and at the local level, and were particularly impressed by the considerable contribution of the women’s rights and feminist movement in Honduras in the elaboration of public policies integrating a gender perspective. The experts were also encouraged by the Ciudad Mujer initiative, which is promising as long as further supported by all necessary resources and developed across the country. 68. Despite all these efforts, gender inequality persists. Women’s living conditions have not improved and poverty, violence, insecurity and social exclusion still affect them significantly. Women are underrepresented in political and economic spheres, girls face significant barriers to access to quality education (including sexuality education) and there are many obstacles to access to quality and comprehensive health care. In particular, access to sexual and reproductive health is very restrictive; abortion is prohibited in all circumstances, as is emergency contraception. Certain categories of women are in a particularly disadvantageous position, such as indigenous, Garífuna and Afro-Honduran women, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex women, rural women, women with disabilities and women living in poverty. Women in prison also face poor conditions and women human rights defenders are subjected to criminalization, violence, stigmatization and intimidation. 37 38 16 See the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules). National Prison Institute Agreement No. 001-2016 on regulations governing visits to establishments of the national prison system.