“The Member States of the Organisation of African Unity, parties to the present Charter shall recognise the rights, duties and freedoms enshrined in the Charter and shall undertake to adopt legislative or other measures to give effect to them.” 4.2.4 Duty to exclude statements obtained by torture or other ill-treatment The African Commission has yet to consider the issue of exclusion of evidence in its jurisprudence. However, the Robben Island Guidelines advise States to “Ensure that any statement obtained through the use of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment shall not be admissible as evidence in any proceedings except against persons accused of torture as evidence that the statement was made.”592 It therefore seems likely that the African Commission will take a similar line to other regional and international bodies in finding that States have a duty to exclude statements obtained by torture or ill-treatment. 4 The AFrican Regional System Read in conjunction with Article 5, this article creates a duty on States parties to criminalise torture and other ill-treatment. The African Commission has confirmed that State obligations under the ACHPR include a positive obligation to “prosecute and punish private actors who commit abuses.”590 However, the mere “existence of a legal system criminalizing and providing sanctions for assault and violence would not in itself be sufficient; the Government would have to perform its functions to effectively ensure that such incidents of violence are actually investigated and punished.”591 The Commission has yet to comment on the importance of creating a specific criminal offence of ‘torture,’ as opposed to related offences of causing physical or psychological harm. 4.2.5 Duty to train personnel and provide procedural safeguards The ACHPR, like other regional and international human rights instruments, contains a number of procedural safeguards. Article 6 of the ACHPR provides: “Every individual shall have the right to liberty and to the security of his person. No one may be deprived of his freedom except for reasons and conditions Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum v Zimbabwe (2006), op. cit., §159. See also Amnesty International and Others v Sudan (1999), op. cit., §56; Law Office of Ghazi Suleiman v Sudan (2003), op. cit., §45–46; Mouvement Burkinabé des Droits de l’Homme et des Peuples v Burkina Faso (2001), op. cit., §42. 591 Ibid. §159. Internal quotation omitted. 592 Robben Island Guidelines, op. cit., §29. 590 133