CAT/C/DEU/CO/5 Access to complaint mechanisms 18. The Committee is concerned at information that alleged victims of ill-treatment by the police are not aware of complaint procedures beyond reporting their complaints to the police, who in some cases refused to accept allegations of misconduct by the police. The Committee is further concerned at reported cases of ill-treatment of persons in a vulnerable situation who have declined to file a complaint against the police out of fear of countercomplaints by the police or other forms of reprisals (arts. 12, 13 and 16). The Committee recommends that the State party take appropriate measures to: (a) Ensure that information about the possibility and procedure for filing a complaint against the police is made available and widely publicized, including by being prominently displayed in all police stations of the Federal and Länder Police; and (b) Ensure that all allegations of misconduct by the police are duly assessed and investigated, including cases of intimidation or reprisals in particular against persons in vulnerable situation as a consequence of the complaints of ill-treatment by the police. Prompt, independent and thorough investigations 19. The Committee welcomes the information provided by the State party on the measures taken by the Federal Government and the Länder to ensure that investigations into allegations of criminal conduct by the police are conducted promptly and impartially. However, the Committee is concerned that allegations of torture and ill-treatment and unlawful use of force by the police at the federal level continue to be investigated by the Public Prosecution Offices and the police acting under the supervision of the Public Prosecution Offices. The Committee is particularly concerned by the allegations that several incidents of ill-treatment by the police, raised during the dialogue with the State party, have not been investigated promptly, independently and thoroughly, as in some of those cases the same Federal Police unit to which the accused police officer belonged was responsible for parts of the investigation. The Committee thus reiterates its concern at the absence at the federal level as well as in some Länder of independent and effective investigations into the allegations of ill-treatment (arts. 12, 13 and 16). The Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Take all appropriate measures both at the federal and Länder level so as to ensure that all allegations of torture and ill-treatment by the police are investigated promptly and thoroughly by independent bodies, with no institutional or hierarchical connection between the investigators and the alleged perpetrators among the police; and (b) Provide the Committee with its comments on the specific cases of illtreatment by the police raised during the dialogue with the State party. Intersex people 20. The Committee takes note of the information received during the dialogue that the Ethical Council has undertaken to review the reported practices of routine surgical alterations in children born with sexual organs that are not readily categorized as male or female, also called intersex persons, with a view to evaluating and possibly changing current practice. However, the Committee remains concerned at cases where gonads have been removed and cosmetic surgeries on reproductive organs have been performed that entail lifelong hormonal medication, without effective, informed consent of the concerned individuals or their legal guardians, where neither investigation, nor measures of redress 6