CAT/OP/TGO/1 orders for provisional custody which indicated no duration of custody and provided no information on the date of release. On consulting the registers, the Subcommittee found that some children had been placed in pretrial detention for periods exceeding 3 months, for minor offences. 97. The Subcommittee reminds the State party that such situations contravene the terms of articles 300, 305, 310 and 318 of the Togolese Children’s Code and therefore constitute arbitrary detention. Under those articles: (a) Custody must be a last resort, and must not last longer than 20 hours, except in cases where the public prosecutor’s office authorizes an extension of 10 additional hours; (b) Minors over the age of 14 who are accused of a criminal offence must be brought before a judge within 48 hours of their appearance before the State prosecutor; (c) The length of pretrial detention may not exceed 3 months for misdemeanours and 12 months for crimes. 98. The Subcommittee recommends that the State party ensure that the detention of children be as brief as possible, and that consideration be given to their conditional release or other alternative measures to deprivation of liberty. The Subcommittee recommends that the State party establish an appeals mechanism for children with a view to avoiding arbitrary or excessive detention. Conditions of detention 99. The Subcommittee is concerned about the poor sanitary and general physical conditions in which children live in the Juvenile Division. They do not have an adequate diet and they do not spend sufficient time outdoors, nor do they have access to sports or educational activities. The lack of an adequate diet and of appropriate activities constitutes inhuman and degrading treatment. The difficulty in accessing care was also disturbing, especially for children without parents or close relatives and for those whose families had no resources. 100. The Subcommittee also found that disciplinary measures amounting to corporal punishment are used in the Juvenile Division. 101. The Subcommittee recommends that the State party provide children with an adequate, varied diet and that it facilitate their access to health care, including by covering their medical costs, particularly in the case of the most vulnerable children, who lack resources. The Subcommittee urges the State party to ensure that time outdoors, along with sports, handicrafts and educational activities, are provided on a daily basis in the Juvenile Division. 102. Lastly, the Subcommittee calls on the State party to establish a complaints mechanism for children, so that all acts of ill-treatment and corporal punishment can be reported and investigated and the perpetrators punished. 2. Situation of minors in conflict with the law in the rest of Togo 103. The Subcommittee notes with deep concern that in some police stations and gendarmeries, children in conflict with the law are held in detention together with adults. The main reason for this, as expressed by law enforcement staff when questioned, was doubts about the age of the persons placed under arrest. 104. The Subcommittee also found that repairs and improvements made to the sections or cells for minors in some police stations and gendarmeries had been carried out by NGOs. 105. The Subcommittee reminds the State party that minors in conflict with the law must never be detained alongside adults and, in the case of doubts about the age of the child, the situation must be handled in the child’s best interests. 106. The Subcommittee recommends that the State party train and designate, in each police station and gendarmerie, at least one police officer specializing in children’s rights and in juvenile justice. 14 GE.17-06858