PART B – International standards in the Istanbul Protocol 15 Lawyers can also be involved in more general lobbying activates to promote the implementation of measures to prevent and punish torture. Specific legislative initiatives that lawyers may become involved with include: • Campaigns to ratify the UN Convention against Torture and its Optional Protocol as well as regional human rights instruments prohibiting torture • Identifying shortcomings in national law and practice with a view to bringing the national system in line with relevant international standards • Proposals for national legislation to implement the provisions of the UN Convention against Torture as comprehensively as possible including: making torture a specific criminal offence in line with Article 1; ensuring that statements made as a result of torture are not invoked as evidence in any proceedings, except against a person accused of torture as evidence that the statement was made; and guaranteeing effective remedies and adequate reparation specifically for torture victims • Specific provisions under national legislation to guarantee that the crime of torture is prosecuted ex officio (i.e. without a victim having to lodge a complaint) • Proposals to legislate mandatory medical examinations for detainees upon entry into detention centres • Administrative legislation forcing authorities in detention centres to keep permanent records of persons detained and as well as medical records of all detainees (including medical diagnosis) • Revoking legislation that contravenes any provision of the UN Convention against Torture or that generally facilitates torture and ill treatment in certain circumstances (such as “security legislation”) as well as any legislation that exempts perpetrators from punishment (such as amnesties or immunities) • Amendments to the Rules of Court, Procedural Codes and/or other relevant evidentiary principles to shift the burden of proof to the relevant custodial authority when it is reasonably alleged that torture took place during detention (i.e. the individual is sent to emergency hospitalisation during detention).