CAT/C/CHN/CO/5 41. The Committee recalls the absolute prohibition of torture contained in article 2 (2) of the Convention, which states that “no exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether … internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture”. The Committ ee also draws the State party’s attention to its general comment No. 2 (2007), in which it mentions that States parties must ensure that the laws in practice are applied to all persons, regardless of ethnicity or of the reason for which the person is detained, including persons accused of political offences. The Committee urges the State party to provide the requested information on all Tibetan cases mentioned in paragraph 27 of the list of issues. It also urges the State party to ensure that all custodial deaths, disappearances, allegations of torture and illtreatment and reported use of excessive force against persons in the autonomous region of Tibet and neighbouring Tibetan prefectures and counties, and in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, are promptly, impartially and effectively investigated by an independent mechanism. Alleged secret detention 42. Notwithstanding the State party’s denial of the existence of unofficial places of detention, the Committee remains seriously concerned at consistent reports from various sources about a continuing practice of illegal detention in unrecognized and unofficial detention places — the so-called “black jails”. It is further concerned by the fact that, despite the Committee’s questions, the State party has not furnished any information on the number of investigations for illegally operating secret detention facilities or on the investigations into the alleged rape of Li Ruirui and the reported deaths of Wang Delan and Li Shulian in black jails. It remains equally concerned at the extended use of other forms of administrative detention, such as “legal education centres”, “measures for the custody and education” of persons suspected of prostitution, measures of “compulsory isolation in drug treatment centres” and compulsory psychiatric institutionalization, which have been allegedly used to detain suspects without accountability. The Committee notes with concern reports indicating that the local police impose such measures without any judicial process (arts. 2, 11 and 16). 43. The State party should: (a) Ensure that no one is detained in any secret detention facility, as these are per se a breach of the Convention; (b) Abolish all forms of administrative detention, which confine individuals without due process and make them vulnerable to abuse; (c) Prioritize the use of community-based or alternative social-care services for persons with psychosocial disabilities or drug addiction; (d) Avoid forced hospitalization or confinement for medical reasons, unless it is imposed as a last resort, for the minimum period required and only when accompanied by adequate procedural and substantive safeguards, such as prompt initial and periodic judicial review, unrestricted access to counsel and complaints mechanisms and an effective and independent monitoring and reporting system; (e) Ensure that all allegations of torture, ill-treatment or arbitrary detention in places of administrative detention, including in former “re-education through labour” facilities, are impartially investigated, the results made public, and any perpetrators responsible for breaches of the Convention held accountable; (f) Provide adequate redress to all persons who have been detained in secret detention facilities and their families. 12