The Committee urges the State party to release human rights defenders imprisoned and/or sentenced because of their peaceful professional activities and to facilitate the reopening and full functioning of independent national and international human rights organizations, including the possibility of conducting unannounced independent visits to places of detention and confinement. Training of personnel (17) The Committee takes note of the extensive information provided on training of law enforcement officials and penitentiary staff regarding human rights. The State party’s information does not clarify whether this training has been effective. The Committee also notes a lack of information provided on gender specific training. The State party should provide specific training to its medical personnel dealing with detainees on how to identify signs of torture and ill-treatment and ensure that the Istanbul Protocol of 1999 (Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment) becomes an integral part of the training provided to physicians and others involved in health care of detainees. In addition, the State party should develop and implement a methodology to assess the effectiveness and impact of its training/educational programmes on cases of torture and ill-treatment and provide information about gender specific trainings. Compensation and rehabilitation (18) Noting the State party’s information about victims’ rights to material and moral rehabilitation envisaged in the Criminal Procedure Code and the Civil Code, the Committee is concerned at the lack of examples of cases in which the individual received such compensation, including medical or psychosocial rehabilitation. The State party should provide compensation, redress and rehabilitation to victims, including the means for as full rehabilitation as possible and provide such assistance in practice. Independence of the judiciary (19) The Committee remains concerned that there is a lack of security of tenure of judges, that the designation of Supreme Court judges rests entirely with the Presidency, and that lower level appointments are made by the executive which re-appoints judges every five years. The State party should guarantee the full independence and impartiality of the judiciary, inter alia, by guaranteeing judges’ security of tenure. Evidence obtained through torture (20) While appreciating the frank acknowledgement by the representatives of the State party that confessions under torture have been used as a form of evidence in some proceedings, and notwithstanding the Supreme Court’s actions to prohibit the admissibility of such evidence, the Committee remains concerned that the principle of non-admissibility of such evidence is not being respected in every instance. The State party should take immediate steps to ensure that in practice evidence obtained by torture may not be invoked as evidence in any proceedings. The Committee reiterates its previous recommendation that the State party should review cases of convictions based solely on confessions, recognizing that many of these may have been based upon evidence obtained through torture or ill-treatment, and, as appropriate, provide prompt and impartial investigations and take appropriate remedial measures. 38