E/CN.4/1988/17/Add.1 page 6 19. The Special Rapporteur was told that one of the reasons why during the military dictatorship the civilian judges were often powerless to defend the human rights of citizens was that "crimes" that were considered to be connected with internal security were brought under the jurisdiction of the military tribunals. 20. After the return to democracy and the re-enactment of the Constitution, the Supreme Court restored the old rule according to which all offences mentioned in the common Penal Code are brought to the civil courts, irrespective of whether they are committed by civilians or the military, whereas the competence of the military courts is confined to typically military offences. Concluding remarks 21. The visits paid to Colombia, Argentina and Uruguay have greatly expanded the Special Rapporteur's insight into the roots and causes of torture. Both in Uruguay and in Argentina, he was told that the widespread practice of torture during the military regime was facilitated by the already existing tradition of brutal treatment of detainees by the police; the important role of confession in criminal procedure had been instrumental in this tradition. In both countries it was stressed that the use of torture as a means of extortion and terror was passed from the police to the military not the other way round as is sometimes believed. 22. Common criminal procedures and the means by which evidence is collected therefore deserve much more attention than they usually get. Torture is very often seen mainly in the context of political controversies as a means of suppressing political opponents - and correctly so. But this focus on situations of political strife may lead us to close our eyes to the fact that the seeds of the use of torture for this particular end are often sown elsewhere and that, therefore, practical measures to prevent torture should also be taken elsewhere. 23. Another element which seems to be extremely relevant is that, although mentality training is undoubtedly very important, it is clearly not sufficient. The existence of technical expertise and technical equipment is also of vital significance. It is noteworthy that in two of the three countries visited members of the Government made an explicit appeal for assistance by the international community. In the whole concept of international co-operation economic and social development until now have played a preponderant role. This is logical and to the point since in large areas of the world economic and social human rights cannot be guaranteed without the combined efforts of the international community as a whole. The international community has been much less aware that the realization of political and civil rights may also be dependent upon international co-operation. This may be partly due to the fact that political and civil rights are usually seen as obligations for the State to abstain from interfering in the private sphere of the individual. However, for the full enjoyment of those rights, a certain infrastructure is essential. Up till now, hardly any funds have been set aside to comply with requests for assistance in this field. The programme of advisory services of the Centre for Human Rights - useful as it may be, in particular for the near future will clearly be insufficient if awareness of the possibilities of international co-operation and assistance for the realization of civil and political human rights increases. The Special Rapporteur is of the opinion