A/68/44 (d) Provide the Committee with updated information on the situation in Casamance regarding the implementation of the Convention, including the outcome of the investigations into acts of torture and murder. The case of Mr. Hissène Habré, former President of Chad (12) The Committee notes the information provided by the delegation on the State party’s wish to try Mr. Hissène Habré in Senegal, as well as the measures taken at regional and national levels to ensure that the trial can take place. While noting the State party’s collaboration with the Committee during its official mission in 2009 under article 22 of the Convention, the Committee regrets the State party’s delay in trying Mr. Habré in accordance with the Committee’s decision of 17 May 2006, which was furthermore confirmed by the order of the International Court of Justice dated 20 July 2012 (Belgium v. Senegal) (arts. 5 and 7). The Committee takes note of the State party delegation’s statement that the trial of Mr. Hissène Habré is due to start in December 2012, and urges the State party to make every effort to get the trial under way by this date so as to put an end to impunity for anyone in its territory who is responsible for acts of torture and other international crimes, in accordance with its obligations under the Convention. Extraction of confessions (13) The Committee takes note of the State party’s assertion that judges, who have supreme authority to weigh the evidence, cannot attach any value in a trial to confessions obtained under torture or duress. However, the Committee regrets that the Senegalese Code of Criminal Procedure contains no explicit provision to this effect and that the State party has provided no information on cases in which the courts have actually ruled as inadmissible confessions obtained under torture (arts. 2 and 15). The State party should ensure that, whenever a person claims to have confessed under torture, such confessions are not invoked as evidence in the judicial proceedings and a thorough investigation is conducted into the claim. The Committee encourages the State party to amend its law so as to explicitly prohibit the use as evidence of any statement made under duress or as a result of torture. Violence against women (14) While noting the measures taken by the State party to combat all forms of violence against women, the Committee remains deeply concerned about the persistence in the State party of domestic violence, female genital mutilation, sexual abuse, rape and forced marriages. The Committee regrets that the State party has not provided information on the remedies and compensation, including rehabilitation, made available to women victims of violence (arts. 2, 12, 13 and 16). The State party should: (a) Continue to publicize Act No. 99-05 of 29 January 1999 on the penalization of the crimes of rape, excision, assault and battery, and incest, and to provide more information on the project to set up a national observatory on violence against women; (b) Step up efforts to prevent, combat and punish all forms of violence against women and children, by applying domestic laws and international conventions, and to run awareness and information campaigns for the general public and law-enforcement officers. The State party should investigate all allegations of such violence, prosecute and punish the perpetrators and offer victims effective protection and immediate redress; GE.13-46043 71