E/CN.4/2003/68 page 13 (m) Training courses and training manuals should be provided for police and security personnel and, when requested, assistance should be provided by the United Nations programme of advisory services and technical cooperation in the field of human rights. Security and law enforcement personnel should be instructed on the pertinent provisions of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials, the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials, the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment and the Basic Principles on the Treatment of Prisoners, and these instruments should be translated into the relevant national languages. In the course of training, particular stress should be placed upon the principle that the prohibition of torture is absolute and non-derogable and that there exists a duty to disobey orders from a superior to commit torture. Governments should scrupulously translate into national guarantees the international standards they have approved and should familiarize law enforcement personnel with the rules they are expected to apply. In particular, due attention should be paid to the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and other international standards in resorting to methods and equipment of restraints, as well as to punishment measures. In that respect, prolonged solitary confinement, which may amount to torture, should be abolished; (n) Health-sector personnel should be instructed on the Principles of Medical Ethics relevant to the Role of Health Personnel, Particularly Physicians, in the Protection of Detainees and Prisoners against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Governments and professional medical associations should take strict measures against medical personnel that play a role, direct or indirect, in torture. Such prohibition should extend to such practices as examining detainees to determine their “fitness for interrogation” and procedures involving ill-treatment or torture, as well as providing medical treatment to ill-treated detainees so as to enable them to withstand further abuse. In other cases, the withholding of appropriate medical treatment by medical personnel should be subject to sanction; (o) National legislation and practice should reflect the principle enunciated in article 3 of the Convention against Torture, namely the prohibition on the return (refoulement), expulsion or extradition of a person to another State “where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture”. The principle of non-refoulement must be upheld in all circumstances irrespective of whether the individual concerned has committed crimes and the seriousness and nature of those crimes. Asylum determination procedures should pay particular attention to avoiding the retraumatization of applicants. Note 1 See common article 3 of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 on the protection of victims of war. -----