A/HRC/34/54/Add.1 III. Assessment of the situation A. Torture and ill-treatment 14. Mauritania has emerged from a past under military rule and the devastating events of the late 1980s and early 1990s (the so-called “passif humanitaire”), during which gross human rights violations were perpetrated or encouraged by the Government and during which the forced deportation of Mauritanian citizens, in particular members of various black ethnic groups, was the norm. Although most victims of those violations are still awaiting remedies, including prosecutions for international crimes such as torture, Mauritania has since improved the human rights situation on the ground and strengthened its engagement with international and regional human rights frameworks. 15. While acts of torture and ill-treatment are no longer rampant in Mauritania, they still occur frequently. While recognizing the State’s limited resources, the Special Rapporteur stresses the need for political will and urgent action to put into practice existing laws and safeguards and ensure that current practices and existing conditions do not give rise to torture or other ill-treatment or punishment. 1. During arrest and detention (extraction of confessions) 16. Both the national police and the paramilitary forces (the gendarmerie and the national guard) can act as judicial police and have powers of arrest and interrogation. Generally, the police operates in cities and towns, whereas the gendarmerie is responsible for areas outside urban centres. The national guard is less involved in arrests and interrogations. When acting as judicial police, the gendarmerie, while nominally subordinate to the Ministry of National Defence, reports directly to the public prosecutor, as does the national police. 17. Police and gendarmerie stations are equipped with small lock-ups of between one and two cells. Suspects can be deprived of their liberty during the judicial investigation for a limited time depending on the charge.2 Police custody is initially imposed by the judicial police and immediately reported to the relevant public prosecutor, who is thereafter responsible for the detainee. 18. The Special Rapporteur received numerous credible testimonies from detainees and other individuals in contact with law enforcement about the use of torture and other illtreatment, particularly in the early stages of arrest and detention. Aspects of the “culture of torture” that characterized the military regimes remain in police and gendarmerie units, which have few means of conducting serious investigations and often resort to ill-treatment to extract confessions. 19. While it seems that physical and mental pressure is exerted on detainees mostly during interrogations for more serious crimes, it is reportedly also exerted for misdemeanours and ordinary crimes. The perception that the harshness of the treatment is related to the social, economic or even ethnic background of the suspect, with a bias against impoverished members of society and those not possessing social or family connections, is widespread. 20. Forensic evidence corroborates reports of physical trauma and transitory physical injuries caused by beatings (often with clubs), occasional blows with blunt objects, punches, kicks with boots, slaps, the cuffing of hands and feet, and the forced placement in 2 For the length of time that suspects can be deprived of their liberty, see paras. 75-83. 5