CAT/C/FIN/CO/7 through ill-treatment and remove the provisions that give courts discretionary authority when it comes to the use of evidence obtained unlawfully. Non-refoulement 12. While taking note of the nearly tenfold increase in the number of asylum applications in the State party over the past year and the increase in the refugee recognition rate, the Committee is concerned that recent changes in legislation and practice may have reduced legal safeguards for asylum seekers and increased the risk of refoulement. It is concerned about the abolishment of “humanitarian protection” as a national protection category and about restrictions on legal aid for asylum seekers. It is also concerned that the acceleration of status determination procedures may result in a person’s speedy removal from the country, giving the person affected a maximum of seven days to apply for an enforcement ban while an appeal on a negative decision is being considered in court, and may not have an automatic suspensive effect. The Committee is also concerned that asylum seekers who are victims of torture may not be effectively identified and that asylum seekers continue to be detained, in particular pending their removal from the country. Moreover, it is concerned about the absence of statistics regarding the number of asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants held in detention facilities run by the police and the Finnish Border Guard (arts. 2, 3 and 16). 13. The State party should: (a) Take effective legislative, judicial and administrative measures in order to maintain the high quality of refugee status determination procedures while complying with its obligations regarding non-refoulement under article 3 of the Convention; (b) Ensure that all asylum requests are evaluated on an individual, case-bycase basis, that legal aid is available to asylum seekers during all stages of the proceedings, that asylum seekers have an effective right to appeal negative decisions and that legislation that deals with the deportation of foreign citizens allows for appeals to courts against deportation orders to have a suspensive effect; (c) Ensure that no person is expelled, returned or extradited to a country where there are substantial grounds for believing that he or she would be in danger of being subjected to torture; (d) Ensure screening for mental health disorders and other consequences of torture-related trauma and provide support, appropriate specialized treatment and rehabilitation to all asylum seekers who are victims of torture; (e) Refrain from detaining asylum seekers and aliens, promote alternatives to detention and revise its policy to bring it into line with the Guidelines on the Applicable Criteria and Standards relating to the Detention of Asylum Seekers and Alternatives to Detention; (f) Set up a mechanism to monitor and provide statistics, disaggregated by sex, age, ethnicity and country of origin, on asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants detained under the Aliens Act and provide the Committee with that information. National preventive mechanism 14. The Committee is concerned that, while the Parliamentary Ombudsman has been entrusted with the task of serving as the national preventive mechanism, insufficient financial or human resources have been allocated to the Ombudsman and that the mechanism may not have the human resources necessary to carry out its mandate (art. 2). 4