CAT/C/RWA/CO/1 seek and obtain prompt, fair and adequate compensation, including in cases where the civil liability of the State party is involved. The State party should provide the Committee with statistical data on cases in which the State party has provided compensation to victims of torture or ill-treatment, as well as the amount of the compensation. Coerced confessions 23. While noting information in the State party’s report that evidence obtained through torture or any cruel or degrading method is prohibited, the Committee is concerned about reports that individuals charged with threatening national security and detained at Kami or Mukamira military camps as well as in “safehouses” in Kigali had made confessions due to beatings and torture. The Committee is particularly concerned that judges did not require investigations into such cases but placed the burden of proof on the persons charged (art. 15). The State party should ensure that confessions, statements and evidence obtained as a result of torture or ill-treatment are not invoked as evidence in any proceedings, except against a person accused of torture as evidence that the statement was made. The State party should investigate confessions obtained through torture, and prosecute and punish those responsible. It should review criminal convictions based solely on confessions in order to identify instances of wrongful convictions based on evidence obtained through torture or ill-treatment, and take appropriate remedial measures and inform the Committee on its findings. National Commission for Human Rights 24. While welcoming the delegation’s explanations on the activities of the National Commission for Human Rights, the Committee is concerned about the reported lack of effective independence of the Commission and the insufficiency of financial and human resources necessary to enable it to adequately fulfil its mandate (art. 2). The State party should take appropriate measures to guarantee, in practice, the independence of the National Commission for Human Rights and provide it with adequate financial and human resources to enable it to effectively fulfil its mandate, in full conformity with the Principles relating to the Status of National Institutions (the Paris Principles). 25. The Committee recommends that the State party consider ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment as soon as possible. 26. The Committee recommends that the State party consider making the declarations envisaged under articles 21 and 22 of the Convention in order to recognize the competence of the Committee to receive and consider communications. 27. The State party is requested to widely disseminate the report submitted to the Committee as well as the present concluding observations, in appropriate languages, through official websites, the media and non-governmental organizations. 28. The State party is invited to submit the common core document in accordance with the requirements of the common core document contained in the harmonized Guidelines on reporting under the international human rights treaties (HRI/GEN.2/Rev.6) approved by the inter-committee meeting of the human rights treaty bodies and to observe the page limit of 80 pages for said common core document. 29. The Committee requests the State party to provide by 1 June 2013 follow-up information in response to the Committee’s recommendations with regard to (i) conducting prompt, impartial and effective investigations; (ii) prosecuting suspects and sanctioning 8

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