CAT/C/NIC/CO/1
page 8
The State party should take the following action:
(a) Strengthen appropriate forms of multidisciplinary human rights training,
including, in particular, comprehensive information on the prohibition of torture and
other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in professional training
programmes for police officers and prison staff;
(b) Provide all staff members with appropriate special training in the
detection of signs of torture and ill-treatment. The Committee recommends that the
Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Istanbul Protocol) should
form an integral part of doctors’ training;
(c) Devise and apply a method for assessing the effectiveness of training and
educational programmes, as well as their impact in reducing the number of cases of
torture, violence and ill-treatment;
(d) Devise and implement specific training on gender issues and ensure that
the staff of juvenile centres receive training.
Administration of juvenile justice
24. The Committee is concerned by the inadequacy of the human and financial resources
devoted to ensuring the proper administration of juvenile justice, including the appropriate
implementation of the Code on Children and Young Persons. The Committee is also concerned
by the gaps that exist in the areas of defence and prosecution and in the definition and imposition
of non-custodial measures or penalties for persons below the age of 18. The Committee also
expresses concern over the lack of special correctional centres for persons below the age of 18 in
conflict with the law and the poor detention conditions that currently exist, especially on police
premises (art. 16).
The Committee recommends that the State party should bring its juvenile justice
system fully into line with the Convention and other United Nations standards
relating to juvenile justice, including the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules
for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (the Beijing Rules), the United Nations
Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty and the Guidelines for
Action on Children in the Criminal Justice System (the Vienna Guidelines), as well as
the latest recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (see
CRC/C/15/Add.265). In this respect, the Committee recommends that the State party
should, in particular:
(a) Allocate sufficient resources for appropriately implementing the Code on
Children and Young Persons in all departments, especially through the establishment
of juvenile courts throughout the country;
(b) Adopt all necessary measures to establish separate detention centres for
persons below the age of 18;