CAT/C/39/2 page 81 342. The Brazilian legal order, also by virtue of an express constitutional provision, assures moral and material reparation to any person who suffers a harm caused by the State, through its agents. This is an objective responsibility, that is, it does not depend of the verification of guilt. The penal conviction also serves as executory mandate for the civil action of compensation. “(k) The State party should carry out awareness-raising campaigns in order to sensitize all sectors of society about the issue of torture and ill-treatment and on the existing conditions of detention centres;” 343. On this question, see comments to paragraph 187 of the Report. “(l) The right to counsel must be guaranteed at all stages of detention, from the initial detention at police stations. An adequately resourced Defensoria Pública, with appropriate authority to investigate and file necessary legal actions, should be present in all States of the Federation in order to provide legal representation to all criminal suspects. Public defenders should receive adequate salaries and appropriate training to ensure that they can carry out their duties;” 344. On this question, see comments to paragraph 186 of the Report. “(m) Allegations of police misconduct should be investigated by an independent body, adequately resourced to perform its functions;” 345. The Police Ouvidorias, which exercise external control on the institution that monopolizes the use of force and may restrict the dearest individual freedoms must be absolutely trusted by the society. Hence the recognition by the Federal Government of the need for their complete independence and absence of commitments with Secretariats or Governments, so that the legal democratic order and the power and obligation of the State to assure public security may coexist. 346. For this reason the Brazilian Government, in bilateral cooperation with the European Union, maintains a Program of Institutional Support to the Police Ouvidorias and Community Police, and hosts the National Forum of Police Ouvidores, in which only those who have no current or past link with the police do participate. There are eleven Brazilian states in the Forum and the number of ouvidores appointed by state governors from a list of three names provided by the State Council for Human Rights is growing (SP, MG, MT and RN). 347. As regards budgetary autonomy, essential for the independent development of the activities of the ouvidorias, the activity of the Ouvidoria de Polícia of the state of Paraíba will set a standard in Brazil. The draft state law that creates this Ouvidoria is currently under examination at the state Legislative Assembly and contemplates also administrative and functional autonomy. The ouvidor must be a representative of civil society committed to the defense of human rights, since the proposal of names follows the above mentioned pattern. The draft bill also assures the Ouvidoria its own headquarters, separate from the facilities of the Public Security Secretariat, and grants competence to requisition documents from any state agency.