Situation during visit in 2005 (See E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.6) (a) The crime of torture should be defined as a matter of priority in accordance with article 1 of the Convention against Torture, with penalties commensurate with the gravity of torture. No explicit definition of torture in domestic legislation; the existing legislation relevant to the prohibition and criminalization of torture did not satisfy the requirements of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) articles 1 and 4; in particular, it lacked the following elements: • mental torture • the direct or indirect involvement of a public official or another person acting in an official capacit • infliction of the act for a specific purpose The penalization of acts of torture was stipulated in articles 247 and 248 of the Criminal Law (CL), however a number of other regulations permit exceptions (see infra Rec c)). (b) All allegations of torture and ill-treatment should be According to CPL article 18, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) is the mechanism Steps taken in previous years (See A/HRC/4/33/Add.2 and A/HRC/7/3/Add.2) • 2006: the Ministry of Justice issued regulations aimed at prohibiting torture and ill-treatment by specific categories of public officials, such as “Six prohibitions for prison guards”, “Six prohibitions for Re-education Through Labour” (RTL) etc. • In the Regulations on Case-Filing Standards in Cases of Rights Infringement through Dereliction of Duty, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) referred to specific forms of ill-treatment by judicial employees, which amount to the crime of coercing a confession, such as beatings, binding, prolonged use of cold, hunger, exposure or scorching to abuse detainees, severely injuring suspects or leading a suspect to commit serious selfinjury or directly or indirectly ordering others to use torture for the purpose of extracting a confession. Cases against civil servants and employees of prisons, detention facilities, holding cells, labour camps and RTL facilities can be filed for the crime of abusing a detainee. Information received on steps taken since December 2007/current situation • • • Non-governmental sources: Despite the introduction of new categories of offences relating to torture by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP), the definition of torture and the prohibition and criminalization of torture in Chinese law still do not satisfy the requirements of CAT articles 1 and 4. In particular the definition does not include the infliction of severe mental pain or suffering, torture for other purposes such as discrimination and a catch-all phrase that would apply to all state or quasi-state actors. The 2008 Government White Paper on China’s Efforts and Achievements in Promoting the Rule of Law does not acknowledge or address these shortcomings. Non-governmental sources: With the exception of occasional reports about prosecutions of perpetrators in the A/HRC/10/44/Add.5 page 5 Recommendation (E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.6)