82. The SPT recommends that the right to notify family or other relevant person outside of the fact of one ’ s deprivation of liberty be enshrined in law. The SPT further recommends that the right of notification of custody be included in the standard notice of rights of persons deprived of liberty and such persons be informed about the right and asked to indicate the person they wish to notify. Police and gendarmerie personnel should be trained to properly inform detainees of this right and to carry out the notification. 6.Access to a lawyer as a safeguard against ill-treatment 83.The delegation was informed that there is no legislative provision for access to a lawyer during the preliminary investigation phase. Police and gendarmerie officials confirmed that people did not normally have a lawyer at the initial custody stage and that lawyers were not allowed to be present at the formal interview of the person held in initial custody. Detainees interviewed by the delegation in police stations and gendarmeries confirmed that they had not been informed of a right to see a lawyer, nor provided with any free legal assistance. 84.In this regard, the delegation observed that in the office of the Commissaire de police at Dantokpa police station, a notice on the wall listed the 136 lawyers registered in Benin and 10 trainee lawyers (avocats stagiaires). With regard to ensuring access to a lawyer from the start of the preliminary investigation, as foreseen in the draft code of criminal procedure which provides for the assistance of a lawyer, the SPT would welcome information on how the authorities intend to increase the number of qualified lawyers and what training will be offered to lawyers regarding the specificities of police and gendarmerie work. 85.From a preventive point of view, access to a lawyer is an important safeguard against ill-treatment which is a broader concept than providing legal assistance solely for conducting one’s defence. The presence of a lawyer during questioning may not only deter the police and gendarmerie from resorting to ill-treatment or other abuses, but it may also work as a protection for police and gendarmerie officers in case they face unfounded allegations of ill-treatment. In addition, the lawyer is the key person to assist the person deprived of liberty in exercising his or her rights, including access to complaints mechanisms. The SPT emphasises that all persons deprived of their liberty should enjoy equal access to a lawyer and at as early a stage of the deprivation of liberty as possible, including at the first police or gendarmerie questioning. In light of the above, the SPT recommends that the authorities ensure that all persons enjoy equal access to defence counsel not only in law but also in practice. Necessary steps should be taken to extend the right to public defence counsel to the initial stage of the deprivation of liberty (garde à vue). 86.The delegation learned that the NGO Association des Femmes Juristes du Bénin had run a project providing free legal aid to prisons for the past three years, but that the project had now ended. In the absence of a sufficient number of certified lawyers, and a fully fledged legal aid system covering all stages of deprivation of liberty, the SPT recommends that the authorities, as an interim measure, grant detainees the right to have a trusted third party present during questioning in initial custody. 87. The SPT recommends that all persons deprived of their liberty by the police are systematically informed, as from the outset of such deprivation, about their right of access to a lawyer or other trusted third party, and are provided with the means necessary to consult in private with a lawyer or other trusted third party. 88. For the right to a lawyer to be realised in practice, detainees must have the means to have a lawyer. The SPT recommends that the authorities review the law on and system for providing legal assistance to suspects and defendants in the criminal justice process with a view to providing legal aid to persons held in initial police and gendarmerie custody. 7.Access to a doctor as a safeguard against ill-treatment 89.The SPT welcomes the fact that Article 18 of the Constitution of Benin establishes the right of all persons deprived of liberty to access to a doctor of his/her choice, and that article 52 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides that the Procureur can, on his own motion or at the request of the detainee’s family, order that the detainee be examined by a doctor during the garde à vue. However, this provision appears to exist in theory rather than practice, and detainees interviewed by the delegation were not aware of this right. The delegation observed detainees who were in need of medical treatment, for example because the mob who had brought them to the gendarmerie had beaten them, but who had either not asked to see a doctor, or had not been provided with access to a doctor. 90.Moreover, a man held at Dantokpa police station said that he had not asked to see a doctor, despite having been beaten; he opined that, even if he had made the request, the officials would have done nothing. This view was shared by many of the detainees with whom the delegation spoke. After the doctors of the delegation had examined this man, the delegation recommended to the Commissaire that the man be taken to see a doctor in view of his exhaustion, pains, and signs of beating, and possible fracture of the left wrist. A follow-up visit by the delegation on the following morning confirmed that he had been taken to the police hospital at 07.30 under escort by the two officers involved in the alleged beating. 91.If a person deprived of liberty is ill-treated by the police or the gendarmerie, that person may quite understandably be afraid, while still in the hands of the police or the gendarmerie, to tell someone else about it. If the person does want to complain about the illtreatment, a doctor could be a likely choice, since consultations with doctors should be private and, if injuries have been inflicted, the doctor is best placed to examine and record these. From the preventive perspective, if persons deprived of liberty are routinely examined by a doctor in private while in custody, this may have a deterrent effect on any officer who might resort to ill-treatment. For a person deprived of liberty by the police or the gendarmerie, access to a doctor without the presence of police staff is therefore an important safeguard against ill-treatment. 92.The SPT recommends that the authorities introduce systematic medical examination of all detainees held by the