(vi) Decree No. 4 of 2001 abolishing the State Security Court which had jurisdiction over offences against the internal and external security of the State and emergency legislation, which are now heard by the ordinary criminal courts; (vii) Decree No. 11 of 2001 repealing the State Security Law; (b) The State party’s accession to international human rights treaties including the Convention against Torture in 1998 and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in 2002 and assurances from the delegation that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights “have been agreed upon and are in the process of ratification”; (c) The withdrawal of its reservation to article 20 of the Convention; (d) The visit to Bahrain in 2001 by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention which was granted unrestricted access to all prisons and police station holding cells and was able to speak freely and without witnesses to prisoners it selected at random; (e) The publication of the foreign worker’s manual; (f) Reports that systematic torture no longer takes place following the 2001 reforms. C. Subjects of concern 108. The Committee expresses its concern at: (a) The persistent gap between the legislative framework and its practical implementation with regard to the obligations of the Convention; (b) The lack of a comprehensive definition of torture in the domestic law as set out in article 1 of the Convention; (c) The large number of allegations of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of detainees committed prior to 2001; (d) Reports of incommunicado detention of detained persons following the ratification of the Convention and prior to 2001, for extended periods, particularly during pre-trial investigations; (e) The inadequate access to external legal advice while in police custody, to medical assistance and to family members, thereby reducing the safeguards available to detainees; (f) The apparent failure to investigate promptly, impartially and fully the numerous allegations of torture and ill-treatment and to prosecute alleged offenders, and in particular the pattern of impunity for torture and other ill-treatment committed by law enforcement personnel in the past; (g) The blanket amnesty extended to all alleged perpetrators of torture or other crimes by Decree No. 56 of 2002 and the lack of redress available to victims of torture; 45