Training (9) The Committee welcomes that the “Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment” (Istanbul Protocol) is distributed among relevant professionals. While noting the information that there is a general awareness among health-care professionals in relation to signs that are suggestive of abuse or even torture, the Committee stresses the importance of more specific training programmes for medical doctors and other health professionals to detect and document signs of torture, as well as training in gender sensitive treatment in judicial and medical institutions. The HKSAR should ensure that health-care professionals are equipped with the necessary training and information to recognize and detect signs and features that may suggest the occurrence of torture, as well as to provide gender sensitive treatment in legal and medical institutions. Strip search and body cavity search (10) The Committee notes the new Police guidelines in force from 1 July 2008 on the handling of searches of detainees in police custody. While welcoming that, under this revised procedure, a designated officer has to justify the scope and conduct of a search based on objective and identifiable criteria, the Committee is concerned at: (a) The Police Commissioner’s determination that every person in police custody has to be searched every time he or she enters a detention facility maintained by the police, making body searches automatic for all individuals in police custody, irrespective of whether or not there is any objective justification thereto; (b) Allegations of abusive strip searches, including in facilities of the Immigration Department and of the Correctional Services Department; and (c) Allegations of the routine practice of conducting body cavity searches of those entering in prison, despite the fact that Rule 9 of the Hong Kong prison rules only provides for the possibility of conducting such searches. The HKSAR should: (a) Ensure that strip searches for persons in police custody are limited to cases where there is a reasonable and clear justification; if carried out, the search has to be conducted with the least intrusive means and in full conformity with article 16 of the Convention; an independent mechanism to monitor those searches, upon request of the detainee, should also be provided; (b) Establish precise and strict guidelines regulating the strip searches conducted by all law-enforcement officials, including those from the Immigration and Correctional Services Department; if these guidelines are already in place, they should be strictly abided by and their observance consistently monitored; records of searches should be made and all abuses committed should be thoroughly investigated and, if substantiated, punished; and (c) Seek alternate methods to body cavity search for routine screening of prisoners; if such search has to be conducted, it must be only as a last resort and should be performed by trained health personnel and with due regard for the individual’s privacy and dignity. Police operations (11) The Committee welcomes the information provided by the delegation that the Police has reviewed and revised, in late 2007, the guidelines for the conduct of officers engaging in police operations in the context of prostitution-related offences. However, the Committee is concerned at the allegations of routine police abuses of persons during such operations. 30