Domestic violence (20) The Committee, while noting various measures undertaken by the State party, including the Action Plan for 2004-2013 of the State Family Policy Document, expresses its concern about the persistence of violence against women and children, including domestic violence. It is also concerned that domestic violence is not defined in national legislation and that marital rape is not recognized as a specific crime. The Committee further regrets the lack of state-wide statistics on domestic violence and to this effect statistical data on complaints, prosecutions and sentences in matters of domestic violence were not provided. While noting the existence of some assistance programmes, including in the areas of rehabilitation and legal assistance, these are mostly run by non-governmental organizations and supported by outside donors, the Committee regrets the lack of direct State involvement in such programmes (arts. 1, 2, 12 and 16). The State party should increase its efforts to prevent, combat and punish violence against women and children, including domestic violence. The State party should, inter alia, include a definition of domestic violence in its Criminal Code and recognize marital rape as a specific crime. The State party is encouraged to participate directly in rehabilitation and legal assistance programmes and to conduct broader awareness campaigns for officials (law-enforcement agencies, judges, law officers and welfare workers) who are in direct contact with the victims. The State party is also encouraged to adopt the draft Programme on Gender Equality for 2007-2010 as announced by the Ministry of Welfare on 26 April 2007 and to elaborate an action plan to prevent sexual and gender-related criminal offences. Trafficking (21) While recognizing the existence of legislative and other measures to address sexual exploitation and trafficking in women and children, including the State Programme for Elimination of Trafficking in Human Beings (2004-2008), the Committee is concerned about persistent reports of cross-border trafficking in women for sexual and other exploitative purposes. The Committee notes the information provided on social rehabilitation for victims of trafficking, including the provision of state-financed social rehabilitation, but regrets the lack of information on training of law enforcement personnel and other relevant groups (arts. 2, 10 and 16). The State party should continue to take effective measures to prosecute and punish trafficking in persons, including through the strict application of relevant legislation. The State party should conduct nationwide awareness-raising campaigns, provide adequate programmes of assistance, recovery and reintegration for victims of trafficking and conduct training for law enforcement officials, migration officials and border police on the causes, consequences and incidence of trafficking and other forms of exploitation. Data collection (22) While noting that some statistics have been provided, the Committee regrets the lack of comprehensive and disaggregated data on complaints, investigations, prosecutions and convictions of cases of torture and ill-treatment by law enforcement officials, as well as on trafficking and domestic and sexual violence. The Committee also regrets the lack of statistics in respect of asylum seekers and non-citizens as well as inter-prisoner violence. However, the Committee takes note of the establishment in August 2007 by an order of the State Police of the Statistics and Analysis Unit of the Internal Security Bureau of State Police tasked, inter alia, to analyze statistics on the offences committed by the police officers (arts. 12 and 13). The State party should establish an effective system to gather all statistical data relevant to the monitoring of the implementation of the Convention at the national level, including complaints, investigations, prosecutions and convictions of cases of torture and ill-treatment, trafficking and domestic and sexual violence, as well as on compensation and rehabilitation provided to the victims. The Committee recognizes the sensitive implications of gathering personal data and emphasizes that appropriate measures should be taken to ensure that such data collection is not abused. (23) The Committee encourages the State party to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. 25