A/68/44 women to seek unsafe illegal abortions. The Committee is particularly concerned at the criminalization of abortions in cases of rape and incest as well as the prohibition by the Constitutional Court of the distribution of oral emergency contraception to victims of rape. It is further concerned at the fact that the existing law obliges physicians to bring information on women resorting to post-abortion health services to the attention of the authorities and which may lead to investigation and criminal prosecution, which creates such fear of punishment that, in practice, this constitutes a denial of legal abortion services. The Committee is also concerned at the forced sterilization of women, namely the 2.000 women who were subjected to forced sterilizations under the National Reproductive Health and Family Planning Program between 1996 and 2000, and who have not yet received redress (arts. 2, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16). The State party should review its legislation with a view to: (a) Amending the general prohibition for cases of therapeutic abortion and pregnancy resulting from rape and incest and provide free health coverage in cases of rape; (b) Legalizing the distribution of oral emergency contraception to victims of rape; (c) Ensuring that health professionals are aware of and informed about the protocols regarding legal abortions by the Ministry of Health and guarantee immediate and unconditional treatment for persons seeking emergency medical care; (d) Eliminating the practice of extracting confessions for prosecution purposes from women seeking emergency medical care as a result of illegal abortion and penalizing medical personnel for the exercise of their professional responsibilities; (e) Enhancing its provision of family planning information and services and conducting a broad public campaign to raise awareness about cases when therapeutic abortions are legal and the administrative framework to access them. The State party should accelerate all current investigations related to forced sterilization, initiate prompt, impartial and effective investigations of all similar cases and provide adequate redress to all victims of forced sterilization. Impunity for acts of torture and ill-treatment during the internal armed conflict (16) The Committee is gravely concerned at the slow progress of establishing accountability for the estimated 70,000 deaths or enforced disappearances during the internal armed conflict from 1980 to 2000, and at the very small number of convictions and high rate of acquittals in cases prosecuted. It is further concerned at the slow pace of exhumations, identification of and return of bodies to their relatives and the scarcity of qualified personnel. It is also concerned at the requirement by the National Criminal Court that evidence be direct and documentary, and its unwillingness to credit the testimony of victims or their relatives. The Committee is seriously concerned at the absence of full cooperation of the Ministry of Defence to furnish information relevant for the investigations, including lists of army officers present in patrols and army bases in different regions affected by the conflict, and to inform on the aliases and code names frequently used by military officials. While taking note of the introduction of the Victim and Witness Assistance Programme and acknowledging the challenges and difficulties, the Committee is concerned that lack of effective implementation prevents courts from obtaining testimonies and that there are no special measures to protect victims of torture. It is concerned further at the underreporting of cases of sexual violence against women and girls during the armed conflict, the limited number of investigations, the absence of sentences and the lack of effective redress to victims of sexual violence during the conflict. It is also concerned that rape is the only form of sexual violence that may give rise to individual economic 44 GE.13-46043