CAT/C/TLS/CO/1 (c) Consider providing financial support for the efforts of civil society organizations and the Office of the Ombudsman for Human Rights and Justice to identify and locate children who were separated from their parents and reunify them with their families in Timor-Leste; (d) Consider ratifying the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Impunity for acts of torture and ill-treatment 12. The Committee is concerned at the State party’s repeated assertion that no cases of torture were recorded by the authorities during the period under review. In this connection, the Committee reiterates its concern that widely publicized cases of alleged torture or illtreatment by police officers in Atauro, Oecusse and Maliana have not resulted in any prosecutions and, more broadly, that the Committee has received information concerning many allegations of torture and ill-treatment, including excessive use of force, involving the police, as well as reports that the security forces reportedly commit such abuses with impunity. Furthermore, the Committee regrets the lack of information provided by the State party on the results of its investigation into many alleged incidents of torture and illtreatment committed by members of the police and military in the context of a joint operation against the Maubere Revolutionary Council in 2014 and 2015, such as the one in Lalulai village, Bacau municipality, where a number of individuals, including women and children, were allegedly arbitrarily detained, beaten and threatened by the authorities to compel them to divulge information about the whereabouts of members of the group (arts. 2, 4, 12–14 and 16). 13. The Committee urges the State party to: (a) Ensure that all instances and allegations of torture and ill-treatment are investigated promptly, effectively and impartially, and that the perpetrators are prosecuted and, if found guilty, punished in accordance with the gravity of their acts, as required by article 4 of the Convention; (b) Follow up on the progress of investigations concerning recent allegations of torture and ill-treatment by the police and military, in particular in the abovementioned cases occurring in Lalulai, Oecusse and Maliana, and provide information concerning the outcome of those investigations, including whether they resulted in prosecutions and whether the victims obtained redress, in the State party’s next periodic report to the Committee. Allegations of ill-treatment by the police 14. The Committee notes with concern that well-regarded studies, including population surveys, have revealed that members of the police are perceived as engaging, alone and in joint operations with the military, in excessive use of force, as untrustworthy and as reinforcing a cycle of violence and impunity. Moreover, according to the information received, high-level officials have occasionally encouraged the police to engage in excessive use of force against suspected criminals. The Committee further regrets that the State party did not provide any data on specific sentences, if any, that police officers tried on charges of ill-treatment, including excessive use of force, during the reporting period had received; any data on disciplinary sanctions imposed on offenders; or any indication of whether the alleged perpetrators of those acts were suspended from public service pending the outcome of the investigation of the complaint (arts. 1–13 and 16). 15. The State party should: (a) Ensure that high-level officials unambiguously reaffirm the absolute prohibition of torture and ill-treatment and publicly announce that anyone committing such acts or being found to be otherwise complicit or acquiescent in torture or ill-treatment will be personally responsible before the law for such acts and will be subject to criminal prosecution and appropriate penalties; (b) Ensure that prompt, impartial and effective investigations are undertaken into all allegations relating to torture or ill-treatment, including the 4