A/65/44 case. In addition, the State party should provide information on any ongoing reparation programmes, including for treatment of trauma and other forms of rehabilitation provided to victims of torture and ill-treatment, as well as on the allocation of adequate resources to ensure the effective functioning of such programmes. Conditions of detention (30) While noting that the Prison Regulation in the Syrian Arab Republic provides for the delivery of health care to prisoners, the Committee is concerned about information received on the deplorable living conditions in places of detention, prison overcrowding, lack of hygiene, insufficient food, health risks and inadequate health care. The Committee is also concerned about the failure of the State party to separate juveniles from adults (arts. 11 and 16). The State party should take urgent measures to bring the conditions of detention in police stations, prisons and other detention facilities into line with the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, in particular by: (a) Reducing prison overcrowding, including by considering non-custodial forms of detention, and, in the case of juveniles, by ensuring that detention is only used as a measure of last resort; (b) Improving the food and the health care provided to detainees; (c) Improving the conditions of detention for minors, ensuring that they are detained separately from adults; (d) Strengthening the judicial supervision of conditions of detention. Children in detention (31) While noting the State party’s information that juvenile offenders are not given criminal records and are not subjected to capital punishment, the Committee is concerned by the fact that the Juvenile Offenders Act No. 18 applies only to children under the age of 15 (arts. 2, 11 and 16). The State party should classify all persons under 18 as juveniles in order to extend the protection offered by the Juvenile Offenders Act. Deaths in custody (32) The Committee expresses its concern at credible reports on a number of deaths in custody and on the alleged restrictions on independent forensic examination into the cases of such deaths (arts. 12 and 16). The State party should promptly, thoroughly and impartially investigate all incidents of death in custody and, in all such cases, prosecute those responsible. The State party should provide the Committee with information on any cases of death in custody resulting from torture, ill-treatment or wilful negligence. The State party should also ensure independent forensic examinations and accept their findings as evidence in criminal and civil cases. Coerced confessions (33) The Committee is concerned at the lack of legal provisions explicitly prohibiting the use of confessions and statements obtained as result of torture as evidence in judicial proceedings. It is alarmed by reports that confessions obtained by torture are invoked as a form of evidence in proceedings, especially in the Supreme State Security Court and the military courts, and that the defendants’ claims that they have been tortured are almost never investigated (art. 15). GE.10-44721 137