A/HRC/13/39/Add.4 held separately from male detainees. All these assertions are in stark contrast to the Special Rapporteur’s own observations. D. Corruption 63. According to many interlocutors of the Special Rapporteur, corruption is deeply ingrained in Equatorial Guinea9, in particular at all stages of the criminal justice system. Many detainees indicated that they had been offered release in exchange for the payment of a certain sum of money; some were even tortured with the aim of extorting money. Others said that they were asked to pay for visits, etc. As a result of the endemic corruption, the criminal justice system discriminates against the poor and the arbitrariness of the system is exacerbated. In the opinion of the Special Rapporteur, the widespread corruption in the administration of justice is a consequence of a generally non-functional and nonindependent judicial system. E. Insufficient State action to protect persons from privately inflicted harm 64. The Committee against torture, in paragraph 18 of its General Comment 2 states, “Since the failure of the State to exercise due diligence to intervene to stop, sanction and provide remedies to victims of torture facilitates and enables non-State actors to commit acts impermissible under the Convention with impunity, the State’s indifference or inaction provides a form of encouragement and/or de facto permission. The Committee has applied this principle to States parties’ failure to prevent and protect victims from gender-based violence, such as rape, domestic violence, female genital mutilation, and trafficking.” 65. In Equatoguinean law, there are no clear provisions prohibiting corporal punishment of children. Whereas the Government has signed some relevant memoranda, paragraph 4 of art. 420 of the Penal Code establishes that, if a father causes injuries to his child, in “exceeding himself” in correcting him/her, it would not be considered a crime. The latter provision is in clear contravention of international law. Moreover, the Special Rapporteur has also not learned about any active measures taken to ensure that children are not subjected to corporal punishments by their parents, at schools, etc, such as the creation of accessible complaints mechanisms, an appropriate institutional framework to protect and support victims and/or awareness raising campaigns. 66. Violence against women in the private sphere appears to receive little attention as well: The Penal Code does not criminalize domestic violence, although it prohibits harm, including beatings and ill-treatment. Its article 429 holds that the rape of a woman is to be punished by “reclusión menor” (medium-term imprisonment), but spousal rape seems not to be covered by this law. A mediation procedure has been set up within the Dispute Settlement Division of the Ministry of Social Action and the Promotion of Women to act as facilitator between parties in regard to complaints against physical, psychological and economic violence with the aim of reaching a friendly settlement, but no details about the results of its work were available. Whereas reportedly some initiatives seem underway to combat violence against women, such as training programmes for the police to deal with complaints co-funded by the United States and awareness raising-programmes, the Prosecutor General indicated that no cases of violence against women have been brought before the courts. There is also no shelter in the country. According to the Minister for 9 18 See also the Corruption Perception Index 2008 issued by Transparency International, which ranks Equatorial Guinea 171st out of 180.