A/HRC/4/33/Add.3 page 10 may pursue private claims following a court decision in their favour. According to article 256 of the Civil Code, the party responsible for damage of any kind, even if he lacks capacity, must make restitution for the damage caused.5 II. THE SITUATION OF TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT 25. The Special Rapporteur observes that the preceding discussion on legislation merely lays out the normative framework for addressing matters related to torture and ill-treatment in Jordan. As has been stressed on numerous occasions, the ratification of treaties and the adoption of laws are only initial steps. By themselves they do not guarantee that torture does not take place, nor does their existence reflect current practice. 26. Over the years the Special Rapporteur has received few allegations of torture and ill-treatment in Jordan. However, as he has stated on previous occasions, the number of allegations received are not necessarily indicative of the prevailing situation of torture in a country. 27. On the contrary, this may be an indicator for the level of awareness of individuals, lawyers and civil society of the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment. In Jordan, the Special Rapporteur found an implicit societal tolerance for a degree of violence against alleged criminal suspects and convicts. Though unspoken, there was a widespread awareness that abuse of suspects and detainees occurs and resignation that little can be done about it. According to the Special Rapporteur, save a few active voices, such as the NCHR, and some NGOs, there is little public discourse about the situation of torture in Jordan.6 5 For example, in the case for compensation of a wrongful shooting death by a Public Security Department officer, the Court of Cassation (Ruling No. 4433 of 2003) held in favour of the victim’s heirs against the officer and the Public Security Department. 6 In this regard, it was a telling observation that despite his press conference of 29 June 2006 being well-attended by representatives of the major domestic Arab-language media there was little critical exposure of the visit. Exceptions being the English-language, The Jordan Times, “UN special investigator urges Jordan to criminalize torture, close special courts”, 30 June 2006; editorial entitled, “Damning comments”, 3 July 2006; see also the letter to the editor in rebuttal, “Inaccuracies”, 9 July 2006; Al-Ghad, “Monitoring cases of torture in Jordanian jails, Nowak says they are not supported by Government”, 30 June 2006; and Al Arab Al Yawm, “Jordanian detention centres and lessons learnt from the mission of the UN Special Rapporteur against torture”, 2 July 2006. In large part the official Arabic-language media, including the State-run Jordan News Agency (Petra), either ignored any criticism of the situation, or deliberately misrepresented the preliminary findings of the Special Rapporteur (e.g. Jordan News Agency Petra, “UN Special Rapporteur Hails Jordan’s Openness and Cooperation”, 29 June 2006; Al-Dastour, “Jordan’s first state in the region to respond positively to the international organization to visit detention centres, affirming the non-existence of American secret places of detention on its soil”, 30 June 2006; and Al-Rai, “OHCHR report praises the situation of human rights in Jordan”, 30 June 2006).