CAT/C/TGO/CO/2
6.
The Committee also takes note of the initiatives undertaken by the State party to
amend its policies, programmes and administrative procedures to give effect to the
Convention, including:
(a)
The adoption of the national plan of action against trafficking in persons,
especially women and children, in 2007;
(b)
The signature of the tripartite agreement between Benin, Togo and the Office
of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on 3 April 2007;
(c)
The signature of the tripartite agreement between Ghana, Togo and the Office
of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on 11 April 2007;
(d)
The establishment of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission on 25
February 2009;
(e)
The publication on 2 July 2010 of the guide to good practices for the
protection of minors in conflict with the law;
(f)
The publication on 27 February 2012 of the report of the National Human
Rights Commission, which was commissioned by the Minister of Justice to investigate
allegations of torture and ill-treatment on the premises of the National Intelligence Agency
(ANR).
C.
Principal subjects of concern and recommendations
Definition and criminalization of torture
7.
The Committee notes with concern that, 6 years after establishing a national
commission to update its legislation and 25 years after ratifying the Convention, the State
party has yet to adopt criminal legislation explicitly defining and criminalizing torture (arts.
1 and 4).
The Committee recommends that the State party take the necessary measures to
incorporate in the Criminal Code all the elements of the definition of torture
contained in article 1 of the Convention, as well as provisions criminalizing and
penalizing acts of torture with penalties commensurate with their gravity.
Legislative reforms
8.
While noting the adoption of the draft Criminal Code by the Council of Ministers in
November 2012, the Committee remains concerned, as it noted in its previous concluding
observations in 2006, that legislative reforms, in particular the adoption of the new
Criminal Code and the new Code of Criminal Procedure, have not yet been completed (arts.
1, 2 and 4).
The State party should expedite the process of legislative reform and take the
necessary measures to promulgate and adopt the new Criminal Code and the new
Code of Criminal Procedure as soon as possible in order to remedy the present legal
vacuum surrounding torture.
Allegations of torture and ill-treatment
9.
The Committee is concerned by the allegations of torture and ill-treatment in
detention, in particular of persons held in custody who are detained on the premises of
investigative units or in police stations, gendarmeries, offices of the National Intelligence
Agency, barracks of the presidential guard or other places of detention, including unofficial
places of detention. It is particularly concerned by the conclusion in the report of the
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