A/HRC/7/3/Add.7 page 23 Monitoring and inspection 60. The Special Rapporteur observes that no functioning monitoring mechanisms are in place in Indonesia. The ICRC has access to some detainees, NGOs can make visits in prisons, and the National Human Rights Commission has been conducting announced visits to police stations. However, there is no independent and effective mechanism which would have the power to conduct unannounced visits to all places of detention throughout the country. In this respect the Special Rapporteur commends the National Human Rights Action Plan (2004-2009), which foresees the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture in 2008. This instrument requires the establishment of a National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) vested with the mandate to conduct independent monitoring based on unannounced visits to all places where persons are deprived of their liberty. He considers that accession to this important instrument and its effective implementation would constitute a major step towards preventing torture and ill-treatment in the future. 61. The Special Rapporteur notes that the National Human Rights Commission signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the police granting it free access to all police detention facilities. However, its visits so far were in reaction to complaints, and the Commission has not conducted any unannounced visits to places of detention and/or private interviews with detainees.23 The National Commission on Violence against Women monitors the situation of violence against women in the country, but undertakes visits to places of detention only on an ad hoc basis. 62. Statistical data are a crucial tool for monitoring the criminal justice system and vital for identifying trends and developments and devising corresponding policies. The Special Rapporteur has received only some official statistics which makes it more difficult to make an assessment of the situation of torture in the criminal justice context. IV. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS A. Conclusions 63. The Special Rapporteur commends the Government for the positive steps taken since the end of the Suharto era, notably its accession to international human rights instruments, a number of legislative reforms and good practices that he observed, in particular in the penitentiary system, putting emphasis on reintegration and favouring contacts with families and the community. However, several issues of concern remain. 64. Whereas in some police stations he did not receive any allegations of ill-treatment, in other facilities, in particular in urban areas, torture and ill-treatment is used routinely to extract confessions or in the context of drug charges to reveal dealers/suppliers. In three police stations, the Special Rapporteur arrived while beatings were taking place, and in several places he found persistent medical evidence of several types of ill-treatment, which are in line with reports by 23 See also Annual Report 2006, National Human Rights Commission of Indonesia, pp. 70-71.