Training
(15) The Committee notes with appreciation the detailed information provided by the State party on training
programmes and sessions for law enforcement officials, the judiciary, prison staff, health-care specialists and
psychologists, etc. However, the Committee regrets the limited information on monitoring and evaluation of these
training programmes and the lack of available information on how effective the training programmes have been in
reducing incidents of torture and ill-treatment (art. 10).
The State party should further develop educational programmes to ensure that all officials, including
law enforcement officials and prison staff, are fully aware of the provisions of the Convention and its
Optional Protocol, that breaches will not be tolerated and will be investigated, and that offenders will
be prosecuted. All relevant personnel should receive specific training on how to identify signs of
torture and ill-treatment. The Committee recommends that the Manual on the Effective Investigation
and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
(Istanbul Protocol) become an integral part of the training provided to physicians. Furthermore, the
State party should develop and implement a methodology to assess the effectiveness and impact of such
training/educational programmes on the reduction of cases of torture and ill-treatment.
Conditions of detention
(16) The Committee welcomes the monitoring of places of detention through regular visits by the Ministry of
Public Affairs, together with members of the National Human Rights Commission and civil society. It further
welcomes the decisions by the Supreme Court on five habeas corpus applications and the efforts made by the State
party to implement the Court’s recommendations. Nevertheless, the Committee is very concerned at reports of high
numbers of deaths in custody that have not been investigated. It further regrets the absence of a professionally
staffed penitentiary system independent from the National Police.
The State party should investigate promptly, thoroughly and impartially all incidents of death in
custody and provide adequate compensation to the families of victims. The State party should further
undertake necessary reforms to create an independent penitentiary system.
(17) The Committee is concerned at the poor conditions of detention, including overcrowding, at times lack of
drinking water, insufficient provision of food, poor sanitary conditions, as well as the failure to separate accused
persons from convicted ones, women from men and children from adults, in rural areas as well as in police holding
cells. Furthermore, the Committee is concerned at the occurrence of inter-prisoner violence and lack of statistical
data that may provide a breakdown by relevant indicators to facilitate the determination of root causes and the
design of strategies to prevent and reduce such occurrences (arts. 11 and 16).
The Committee recommends that the State party:
(a)
Continue its efforts to alleviate overcrowding of penitentiary institutions, including
through the application of alternative measures to imprisonment and the increase of budgetary
allocations to develop and renovate the infrastructure of prisons and other detention facilities;
(b)
Take effective measures, including by allocation of budgetary resources, to improve living
conditions in all detention facilities;
(c)
Ensure the separation in all places of detention of convicts from prisoners on remand,
men from women and children from adults;
(d)
Monitor and document incidents of inter-prisoner violence with a view to revealing root
causes and designing appropriate prevention strategies, and provide the Committee with data thereon,
disaggregated by relevant indicators;
(e)
Ensure the application of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners
adopted by the United Nations.
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