A/HRC/31/57/Add.2 15 district offices and 10 regional offices, serving more than 26 million people. The Special Rapporteur welcomes initiatives designed to supplement the funding of the Scheme, such as the monetary donation by the United Nations Development Programme in 2014, and encourages further donations, partnerships, and trainings, as well as public education campaigns, in view of survey reports that at least 69% of the population is not aware of the option of legal aid. 27. The Special Rapporteur learned that the GPS has established a Paralegal Unit, with the support of the British High Commission, at Nsawam, to provide legal assistance to indigent detainees awaiting trial. Nevertheless, reliable information on the number of cases undertaken by paralegals and their outcomes is lacking. Such a Unit has also reportedly been established at the GPS Headquarters, but there are no reports on the outcome of plans to set up units at all central prisons. Accounts by both prisoners and civil society indicate that legal aid and paralegal services fail to reach most inmates. The Special Rapporteur learned that a Draft Bill on Paralegal Services is currently in the works, but did not obtain additional information on its content. Confession Statements 28. The Special Rapporteur reiterates his call on the Government to amend the Evidence Act 1975, which does not expressly exclude evidence obtained under torture from proceedings, to bring it in line with Article 15 of the Convention. The Act renders inadmissible as evidence statements made in the absence of “an independent witness (other than a police officer or member of the Armed Forces) approved by the accused,” who must state that the confession was made in his or her presence, and not under duress. The Special Rapporteur regrets that he has not received statistics on the application of the Act or information as to cases where courts have excluded confessions obtained under torture or prosecuted and punished officials for extracting confessions under torture. This is of particular concern in view of reports about the use of torture and other ill-treatment by police to extract confessions. Although the Attorney-General reiterated that confessions alone are not used to secure convictions, that corroborating evidence is required, and that a “mini-trial” takes place to determine the admissibility of confessions, the Special Rapporteur is concerned by the non-fulfillment of these guarantees in practice. Multiple inmates reported that they were convicted on the basis of coerced confessions, prevented from reporting their grievances before the judge, and denied opportunities to dispute the admissibility of confessions in court, or exercise their right to appeal their convictions. Information received from civil society corroborates these allegations and reveal that courts do not initiative ex officio investigations when there are reasonable grounds to suspect torture or other ill-treatment, and that there is a pervasive inclination on the part of judges summarily to dismiss allegations of torture. Independent medical examinations 29. The right to independent medical examinations continues to be denied in practice. The Special Rapporteur regrets that he has received no indication that independent medical examinations by qualified forensic medical doctors – without interference by law enforcement personnel or prosecutors – are provided as a matter of routine, whether at the time of arrest and during the police investigation stage, by court order, upon transfer and admission to places of detention, or upon request. Police Service instruction 171 has not been revised to remedy the fact that, when provided, medical examinations are not independent; in fact, if they take place at all they are conducted under the control of government medical personnel and in the presence of police officers. The almost complete absence of forensic experts makes it essential to meet the need for training on the assessment of torture and other ill-treatment in accordance with the Istanbul Protocol. 9