(b)The lack of a legal provision clearly prohibiting the invocation of a state of necessity as a justification of torture; (c)Cases of the excessive use of force during public demonstrations and expulsions of foreigners; (d)The fact that foreigners who have been resident in Belgium for a long time but who have disturbed public order or endangered national security may be expelled from the territory, even though most of their ties and attachments are in Belgium; (e)The non-suspensive nature of appeals filed with the Council of State by persons in respect of whom an expulsion order has been issued. The Committee is also concerned about the administration’s delay in implementing ministerial orders issued in 2002 and giving suspensive effect to emergency remedies applied for by rejected asylum-seekers; (f)The possibility of extending the detention of foreigners for as long as they do not cooperate in their repatriation, the possibility of placing unaccompanied minors in detention for lengthy periods, and information that asylum-seekers who have been formally released have been transferred to the transit area of the national airport, without assistance and without being allowed to leave; (g)The reform on 23 April 2003 of the rules governing the exercise of universal jurisdiction by Belgian courts in cases involving serious violations of international humanitarian law, authorizing the Minister of Justice in some circumstances to remove a Belgian judge from a case; (h)The lack of legislation on the rights of persons under judicial or administrative arrest to have access to a lawyer, to inform their family of their detention, to be clearly informed of their rights and to be examined by a doctor of their choice; (i)The lack of an exhaustive list of disciplinary offences in prisons and of any effective remedy for detainees against disciplinary decisions taken against them; (j)Prison violence; (k)Information on the lack of access to medical care in prisons, including psychiatric and psychological care, particularly as a result of the lack of qualified and available staff; (l)The possibility of ordering the isolation of juvenile delinquents aged 12 years and over, for up to 17 days; (m)The poor functioning of the administrative commissions, which are internal prison monitoring bodies; (n)The lack of training for prison administrative staff, including medical staff, in particular on the prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment, owing especially to the lack of resources earmarked for that purpose; (o)The fact that rules on the exclusion of evidence obtained as a result of torture have emerged only from the decisions of the courts, and that judges seem to retain discretionary power in that regard. D. Recommendations 130. While the Committee welcomes the decision of the Belgian authorities to extend the definition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment to the commission of such acts by non-State actors, even those acting without the consent of a State agent, it recommends that the Belgian authorities ensure that all elements of the definition contained in article 1 of the Convention are included in the general definition provided by Belgian criminal law. 131. The Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Ensure that officials who have subjected any person to degrading treatment are liable to criminal penalties, even though they may have acted on the order of a superior, and explain the concept of a “manifestly unlawful order”; (b) Include a provision in the Penal Code expressly prohibiting the invocation of a state of necessity to justify the violation of the right not to be subjected to torture; (c) Ensure that the guidelines on the use of force during public demonstrations and expulsions of foreigners are fully in keeping with the requirements of the Convention, guarantee their full implementation and conduct immediate inquiries into any allegations of the excessive use of force by law enforcement officials; (d) Give suspensive effect not only to emergency remedies applied for but also to appeals filed by any foreigner against whom an expulsion order is issued and who claims that he or she faces the risk of being subjected to torture in the country to which he or she is to be returned; (e) Set a time limit for the detention of foreigners against whom an expulsion order is issued, draft specific legislation on unaccompanied minors that takes account of the best interests of the child, and monitor asylum-seekers who have been released; (f) Ensure respect for the principle of the independence of Belgian courts from the executive branch, in particular where the exercise of universal jurisdiction in relation to serious violations of international humanitarian law is concerned; (g) Expressly guarantee in national legislation the right of all persons who are judicially or administratively detained to have access to a lawyer and a doctor of their choice immediately following their arrest, to be informed of their rights in a language they understand and to inform their families promptly of their detention;