A/66/44 (d) The amendment to the Criminal Code enacted on 1 February 2008. (6) The Committee notes with appreciation the new measures and policies adopted by the State party in order to ensure better protection of human rights, in particular: (a) The adoption in 2003 of the National Human Rights Action Programme of Mongolia, and the establishment in 2005 of the Implementing Committee of the National Programme; (b) The standing invitation issued to special procedures mandate holders since 2004; (c) The adoption of the National Programme on Fighting against Domestic Violence in 2007; (d) The adoption of the 2005–2015 National Programme on Protection from Trafficking in Children and Women with the Purpose of Sexual Exploitation; (e) The opening of legal aid centres in all districts of the capital and in all 21 provinces to provide legal advice to vulnerable persons involved in criminal, civil and administrative cases; (f) The declaration by the President of Mongolia on 14 January 2010 of a moratorium on the use of the death penalty and his indication that the moratorium should constitute the first step towards its abolition. C. Principal subjects of concern and recommendations Definition and criminalization of torture (7) While the Committee takes note that certain amendments to the Criminal Code and Criminal Procedural Code have been introduced in 2008 to harmonize domestic legislation in line with the Convention, the Committee is concerned that there is no definition of torture in the State party’s legislation in accordance with the definition in article 1 of the Convention, as pointed out also by the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in his report on his mission to Mongolia in 2005 (E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.4, para. 39) (arts. 1 and 4). The State party should adopt a definition of torture with all the elements of article 1 of the Convention in its national criminal legislation. The State party should include torture as a separate crime in its legislation, in line with article 4 of the Convention, and should ensure that penalties for torture are appropriate for the gravity of this crime. Fundamental legal safeguards (8) The Committee is concerned at information that arbitrary arrests and detentions occur frequently, with some two thirds of pretrial detentions taking place without court orders. The Committee is also concerned that arrested suspects often do not have prompt access to a judge, a lawyer, a medical doctor and their family as prescribed by law, and that pretrial detention is not used as a last resort (arts. 2, 11 and 12). The State party should take prompt and effective measures to ensure that all detainees are afforded all fundamental legal safeguards from the very outset of their detention. These include the rights of detainees to be informed of the reasons of their arrest, to have prompt access to a lawyer and, when necessary, to legal aid. They should also have access to an independent medical examination, preferably by a doctor of their own choice, to notify a relative and to be brought promptly before a judge, and to have the lawfulness of their detention reviewed by a court, in accordance with international standards. GE.11-45568 55