CAT/C/ATG/CO/1 to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles) (art. 2). 26. The State party should strengthen the mandate of the Office of the Ombudsman, particularly with regard to handling complaints of torture and illtreatment, and allocate sufficient resources for its independent operation. Furthermore, it should ensure the establishment of a national human rights institution in full compliance with the Paris Principles. Refugees and non-refoulement 27. The Committee expresses concern at the absence of domestic legislation or administrative regulations governing asylum procedures and the rights of refugees. The Committee is concerned at the 2015 report by UNHCR that 15 Syrian asylum seekers were detained and threatened with removal despite their expressed fear of return. While noting that an ad hoc eligibility committee, established in 2015, recommended granting asylum to these Syrian nationals, the Committee is concerned that this committee’s recommendations have reportedly not been given legal effect (art. 3). 28. The State party should: (a) Adopt domestic asylum and refugee legislation that is consistent with international standards and is in full compliance with article 3 of the Convention, and ensure that procedural safeguards against refoulement are in place; (b) Establish an asylum procedure that allows for an individualized assessment of each case to be carried out; (c) Develop a screening process to identify, as early as possible, vulnerable persons such as victims of torture and trafficking and provide them with medical and psychological examinations, priority access to the asylum determination procedure and appropriate treatment; (d) Formalize the mandate and authority of the ad hoc eligibility committee with a view to giving the necessary legal effect to its recommendations; (e) Provide the Committee with disaggregated information on the number of successful asylum applications in relation to the total number of requests and on the cases of refoulement and expulsions, including where applicants expressed their fear of torture upon return; (f) Consider acceding to the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness of 1961, as recommended by the Committee on the Rights of the Child (see CRC/C/ATG/CO/2-4, para. 56). Detention of asylum seekers and other migrants 29. The Committee is concerned about the State party’s practice of detaining migrants and asylum seekers even in cases where they have entered and remained lawfully in the country with valid identity documents and have never been in conflict with the law. The Committee also regrets the lack of information, owing to the absence of a State party report, on the immigrants detained at the immigrant detention and removal centre at St. John’s police station for breach of labour and immigration laws (arts. 11 and 16). 30. The State party should refrain from detaining refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants for prolonged periods, especially when they are not charged with any offence under the law; use detention only as a measure of last resort and for as short a period as possible; and promote alternatives to detention. Universal jurisdiction 31. The Committee is concerned at the lack of clarity regarding the legal provisions enabling the State party to establish universal jurisdiction over the crime of torture. The Committee also regrets the lack of information on how the State party has exercised in 6