A/HRC/13/39/Add.6 China Follow-up to the recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur (Manfred Nowak) in the report of his visit to China in November 2005 (E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.6, para. 82) 18. On 23 October 2009, the Special Rapporteur sent the table below to the Government of China requesting information and comments on the follow-up measures taken with regard to the implementation of his recommendations. The Special Rapporteur regrets that the Government has not provided any input. He looks forward to receiving information on China’s efforts to follow-up to his recommendations and he reaffirms that he stands ready to assist in efforts to prevent and combat torture and ill-treatment. 19. The Special Rapporteur welcomes China’s efforts to improve the situation of human rights in the country and to combat torture as proclaimed in its National Human Rights Action Plan 2009-2010 (NHRA). He positively notes that the NHRA unambiguously prohibits torture as well as the use of evidence obtained through torture and declares to prevent torture by inter alia establishing and improving supervisory mechanisms for law enforcement and for the administration of justice, conducting physical examinations of detainees before and after any interrogation and improving the treatment of detainees. However, the Special Rapporteur regrets that China fails to take concrete steps in this regard, rejects to release concrete data about enforcement efforts and to increase transparency in the criminal justice system. Despite some efforts to improve the regulations criminalizing torture, the Special Rapporteur regrets that no further steps have been taken to bring the Chinese criminal law in line with the requirements of articles 1 and 4 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). The Special Rapporteur expresses concern about allegations of continuing use of confessions obtained through torture in judicial proceedings. Although welcoming the increased use of video and audio taping at interrogations, he regrets that such material is fully controlled by the police authorities making an effective and independent monitoring impossible. He is further concerned about the lack of investigations, prosecution and punishment of the perpetrators of torture. He reiterates that no independent mechanism mandated to monitor all places of detention has been created and thus strongly encourages the Government to ratify and implement the Optional Protocol to the CAT. 20. The Special Rapporteur remains concerned about the use of “Re-education through Labour” and similar forms of administrative detention, particularly the “coercive quarantine for drug rehabilitation” and the treatment of such detainees. He is particularly concerned about increasing reports of arbitrary administrative detention in so called ‘black jails’ preventing petitioners to file complaints. The Special Rapporteur notes with concern reports about the excessive use and length of pre-trial detention putting the concerned persons at risk of torture and ill-treatment. He reiterates his recommendations concerning the guarantee of habeas corpus or equivalent means to challenge the lawfulness of detention and the full guarantee of the right to fair trial. 21. Although he welcomes the revision and abolition of regulations inconsistent with the reformed Lawyers Law, the Special Rapporteur regrets that China has so far failed to take concrete steps to guarantee the right to legal counsel, the presumption of innocence and the right to remain silent. He notes with great concern that the intimidation, repression and harassment of lawyers who take on ‘sensitive’ cases continue and that several lawyers have been detained and convicted on arbitrary grounds. The Special Rapporteur is worried about the continuing prosecution of ‘political crimes’ such as “endangering state security” and the discrimination of such political prisoners in the sentence reduction and parole process. 37