A/HRC/4/40/Add.3 page 21 96. Article 41 of the Constitution stipulates that no one may be detained for bad debts. It also establishes, however, that this principle does not limit the powers of the judicial authorities to take action for failure to comply with maintenance obligations. It states in addition that it is the duty of every citizen to pay his or her debts. It could therefore be argued that enforcement by committal may be ordered to ensure compliance with the duty to pay maintenance. In practice, however, recourse to this measure is primarily exercised by banks and other financial institutions against their debtors. 97. The Working Group believes that a clear distinction should be made between the civil obligation to pay a debt resulting from a maintenance obligation and the offence of abandoning a family; just as a distinction should be drawn between the civil obligation to pay a debt and the offence of fraudulently disposing of an item handed over as a pledge or deposit. The acts leading to civil and criminal consequences may be the same but the legal provisions governing them differ substantially. Article 11 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights expressly stipulates that no one shall be imprisoned merely on the ground of inability to fulfil a contractual obligation. Detention may only be imposed for the possible commission of criminal acts and offences. V. CONCLUSIONS 98. Nicaragua, one of the poorest countries of Latin America, has passed through a long armed conflict, a difficult peace-building process and terrible natural disasters, the consequences of which are visible to this day. Notwithstanding these adverse conditions, however, it has moved forward in a major process of democratic change with regard to the administration of justice. This applies, above all, to the area of criminal justice, where Nicaragua - in contrast to other countries around it, where purely superficial amendments have been made to the implementing legislation - has made truly substantial changes in the practices of its institutions. 99. This positive development of the country’s legal framework and in its practical application is all the more impressive when we recall that, regrettably, poverty levels in the country appear not to have dropped to any perceptible degree. These positive gains, which are denied any real impact by their lack of social consolidation, could stall or even regress unless certain practices observed by the Working Group which run counter to the new legal framework are eradicated, practices which should be eradicated with the same enthusiasm and tenacity as were brought to bear on the introduction of the new Code of Criminal Procedure. 100. The assumption by the police in Bluefields of tasks which do not in any way come within its remit is indicative of the mindset of the old order. While no one can dispute that the city’s prison is small and lacks the capacity for all the prisoners in the autonomous region, it is absurd that the police station, which is adjacent to the prison, should take in more detainees than the prison itself, a situation which, in a way, demonstrates the inexcusable failure by the central Government to perform its prescribed duties. 101. Tolerance of irregularities relating to the bringing of detainees before judges within the time limits specified in the new code, and also the continued application of discriminatory provisions for persons detained and sentenced for the use and sale of drugs, could also provide a loophole for the revival of practices which run counter to the scrupulous observance of human rights and this could in turn derail the reforms pursued so vigorously to date.