CAT/OP/GAB/1 25. The Subcommittee recalls that torture and ill-treatment cannot be justified under any circumstances and must be completely prohibited. To that end, the Subcommittee recommends that the Gabonese authorities revise the Criminal Code to include a provision defining all the elements of torture and criminalizing all aspects of it, in line with article 1 of the Convention. 26. The Subcommittee recommends that no pressure be exerted to make persons deprived of their liberty confess to an offence. It also recommends that police officers be better trained in methods of investigation, and that police forensic units be given the resources to conduct forensic examinations and analyses, including in laboratories, with a view to recording criminal offences and identifying the perpetrators. 27. The State party should ensure that confessions are not obtained illegally, particularly by means of torture or any other form of inhuman or degrading treatment. The Subcommittee further recommends that detainees be allowed to know and understand the content of any statement or report before signing it, for example by being provided with a copy to read or by having it read to them. The Subcommittee also recommends that the authorities amend the Code of Criminal Procedure to state explicitly that confessions obtained illegally, particularly under torture, cannot have evidential value in court. Lastly, the Subcommittee recommends that all necessary measures be taken to ensure that any statement found to have been obtained under torture cannot be invoked as evidence in any proceedings, except against a person accused of torture. B. Institutional framework and impunity 28. The Subcommittee notes that Gabon has a Ministry of Justice that must ensure the effective functioning of judicial institutions and the prison admin istration. The Subcommittee also notes that the Ministry of Justice has a department tasked with the promotion and protection of human rights. The criminal justice system is essentially composed of correctional courts, the correctional chamber of the Court of Appeal, special criminal courts and the Criminal Court. 29. The Subcommittee notes that a National Human Rights Commission was established by Act No. 19/2005 of 3 January 2006. Its responsibility is to examine human rights violations on its own initiative and to receive individual complaints. The Subcommittee observes, however, that the Commission was set up only in February 2012, by the decree appointing its members. The Subcommittee notes that the Commission carried out a number of visits to places of deprivation of liberty. In that connection, the Subcommittee regrets the delay in establishing the Commission, which was not yet fully operational at the time of the visit, particularly because of the lack of appropriate premises and the shortage of financial and human resources at its disposal. 30. The Subcommittee was informed that Gabon had adopted the Judicial Protection of Minors Act No. 39/2010 of 25 November 2010, which contains provisions and establishes autonomous bodies contributing to the admini stration of juvenile criminal justice, in addition to protection measures to encourage rehabilitation and social reintegration. The Subcommittee was also informed that there are not enough specialized juvenile judges for the whole country, and that minors in conflict with the law are sent back to their families or to NGO reception centres. Consequently, the Subcommittee is concerned by the lack of State structures for minors in conflict with the law (see also paras. 85–86). 31. The Subcommittee observes that there are judicial review mechanisms that help to combat impunity, particularly through the referral of cases to courts. It notes, GE. 15-10283 7/24