CAT/C/KWT/CO/3 (a) As a matter of urgency, reinstate a de facto moratorium on the application of the death penalty; (b) Follow the current international trend and consider revising its legislation with a view to abolishing the death penalty and commuting death sentences to prison sentences. The Committee reiterates its recommendation (see CAT/C/KWT/CO/2, para. 17) that the State party consider ratifying the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty. Domestic and gender-based violence 28. The Committee is concerned that domestic violence, including sexual violence and marital rape, does not constitute a specific crime in the Criminal Code. It is also concerned that, despite numerous and consistent reports of violence against women, the number of cases reported through existing mechanisms to the relevant authorities remains very low. The Committee is also concerned at the mitigating circumstances and exculpatory provisions set out in article 197 of the Criminal Code regarding so-called “honour” crimes when they are voluntarily carried out by a husband against his wife who has committed adultery and are extended to other male members of her family, while such mitigating circumstances are not granted to women. (arts. 2, 12–14 and 16). 29. The Committee: (a) Reiterates its recommendation (see CAT/C/KWT/CO/2, para. 23 (a)) that the State party enact, as a matter of urgency, legislation to prevent, combat and criminalize domestic and gender-based violence, including sexual violence and marital rape, as specific criminal offences in its Criminal Code, with appropriate sanctions; (b) Encourages the State party to establish an effective and independent complaints mechanism for victims of domestic violence; (c) Calls on the State party to ensure that all allegations of domestic violence, including sexual violence and marital rape, are registered by the police and are promptly, impartially, effectively and thoroughly investigated and the perpetrators prosecuted and punished; (d) Invites the State party to annul or abrogate without further delay any mitigating and exculpatory provisions in the Criminal Code concerning so-called “honour” crimes and promptly take measures to end impunity for so-called “honour” crimes; (e) Reiterates its previous recommendation (ibid., para. 23 (b)) and urges the State party to carry out research and data collection on the extent of domestic violence, and provide the Committee with statistical data on complaints, prosecutions and sentences; (f) Reiterates its previous recommendation (ibid., para. 23 (c)) that the State party conduct broad awareness campaigns about the need to prevent and eradicate domestic and gender-based violence, including its causes, dimensions and measures to detect and prevent it, for officials, such as judges, law officers, law enforcement agents and welfare workers, who are in direct contact with victims, as well as for the population at large; (g) Calls on the State party to ensure that victims of domestic and genderbased violence benefit from protection and have access to medical and legal services, including psychosocial counselling, and to redress, including rehabilitation, as well as to safe and adequately funded shelters and to a free permanent State-funded helpline. 7