CAT/C/AFG/CO/2 44. The Committee urges the State party: (a) To ensure that human rights defenders are able to conduct their work and activities freely in the State party, without fear of reprisals or attacks; (b) To investigate promptly, thoroughly and impartially all violations committed against human rights defenders, prosecute and punish appropriately those found guilty and provide redress to the victims. Training 45. While noting the State party’s information regarding training courses and programmes already in place or delivered, notably for the judiciary, the Committee regrets that: (a) No training courses for all components of the judicial sector to participate in together have taken place; (b) No training courses for officials and health personnel on identifying the physical signs of torture and other forms of violence have taken place; (c) No training courses on non-coercive interrogation techniques have taken place (art. 10). 46. The State party should: (a) Consider organizing training for the judicial service as a whole, bringing together investigators, prosecutors, judges and medical personnel in order to train them on similar and coordinated lines; (b) Ensure that all relevant officials, including medical personnel, are specifically trained to identify and document cases of torture and ill-treatment, in accordance with the Istanbul Protocol; (c) Ensure that all law enforcement officers receive mandatory training emphasizing the link between non-coercive interrogation techniques, the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment, and the obligation of the judiciary to invalidate confessions obtained under torture. Follow-up procedure 47. The Committee requests the State party to provide, by 12 May 2018, information on follow-up to the Committee’s recommendations contained in paragraphs 8 (c), 28 (c) and 34 (a) above. In that context, the State party is invited to inform the Committee about its plans for implementing, within the coming reporting period, some or all of the remaining recommendations in the concluding observations. Other issues 48. The Committee welcomes the delegation’s commitment to remove the reservation of Afghanistan regarding article 20 of the Convention and invites the State party to effectively implement that commitment. 49. The Committee invites the State party to consider making the declarations under articles 21 and 22 of the Convention. 50. The Committee welcomes the delegation’s commitment to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention and invites the State party to effectively implement that commitment. 51. The Committee invites the State party to ratify the core United Nations human rights treaties to which it is not yet party. 52. The State party is requested to disseminate widely the report submitted to the Committee and the present concluding observations, in appropriate languages, through official websites, the media and non-governmental organizations. 11