(a)
Failure to bring detainees promptly before a judge, thus keeping them in prolonged police custody;
(b)
Absence of systematic registration of all detainees, including minors, and failure to keep records of all
periods of pretrial detention; and
(c)
Restricted access to lawyers and independent doctors and failure to notify detainees of their rights at
the time of detention, including their rights to contact family members (arts. 2, 10 and 11).
As a matter of urgency, the State party should take immediate steps to prevent acts of torture and
ill-treatment throughout the country and to announce a policy of total elimination in respect of any
ill-treatment or torture by State officials.
As part of this, the State party should implement effective measures promptly to ensure that all
detainees are afforded, in practice, all fundamental legal safeguards from the very outset of their
detention. These include, in particular, the right to have access to a lawyer and an independent medical
examination, to notify a relative, and to be informed of their rights at the time of detention, including
about the charges laid against them, as well as to appear before a judge within a time limit in
accordance with international standards. The State party should also ensure that all suspects under
criminal investigation, including minors, are included in a central register which functions effectively.
The State party should also reinforce its training programmes for all law enforcement personnel,
including all members of the judiciary and prosecutors, on the absolute prohibition of torture, as the
State party is obliged to carry out such training under the Convention. Moreover, it should keep under
systematic review interrogation rules, instructions, methods and practices with a view to preventing
cases of torture.
Extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances
(8)
The Committee notes the efforts undertaken by the State party in respect of extrajudicial killings, including
the establishment, in 2006, of the independent Commission to Address Media and Activist Killings (the Melo
Commission) and various coordination and investigative task forces, including the Task Force USIG. However, the
Committee expresses its grave concern at the number of such killings that have occurred in the past years and at
reports that, although the total number of killings has declined significantly, such killings as well as enforced
disappearances continue (arts. 12 and 16).
The State party should take effective steps to investigate promptly, effectively and impartially all
allegations of involvement of members of law enforcement agencies in extrajudicial killings and
enforced disappearances. The State party should inform the Committee in its next periodic report of
efforts and measures undertaken to address extrajudicial killings and other human rights abuses,
including those by non-State actors. In this respect, the State party should implement the
recommendations contained in the report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or
arbitrary executions (A/HRC/8/3/Add.2), following his visit to the Philippines in February 2007.
Impunity
(9)
The Committee is deeply concerned that credible allegations of torture and/or ill-treatment committed by law
enforcement and military services personnel are seldom investigated and prosecuted and that perpetrators are either
rarely convicted or sentenced to lenient penalties that are not in accordance with the grave nature of their crimes.
The Committee reiterates its grave concerns over the climate of impunity for perpetrators of acts of torture,
including military, police and other State officials, particularly those holding senior positions that are alleged to have
planned, commanded or perpetrated acts of torture (arts. 2, 4 and 12).
The State party should ensure that all allegations of torture and ill-treatment are investigated
promptly, effectively and impartially, and that the perpetrators are prosecuted and convicted in
accordance with the gravity of the acts, as required by article 4 of the Convention.
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