A/HRC/15/10 9. Despite these enormous difficulties, the Government had embarked on an extensive programme of reform of the defence and security forces, the aim being to ensure their modernization and essentially Republican nature while eradicating the violence that has characterized the country over the past 11–12 years, seriously damaging Guinea Bissau’s image both at home and abroad. The reform envisages a significant reduction in the military ranks and, as a consequence, improved living conditions in barracks. 10. Human rights have always been one of the Government’s primary concerns. Its policy programme therefore includes specific actions to help guarantee respect for human rights and fight impunity in a proactive manner. 11. Guinea-Bissau is not yet a party to the Convention against Torture. However, it had signed the Convention and will be taking the action necessary for its prompt ratification. The country is also not yet a party to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, but is bound by other international legal instruments that prohibit torture and cruel and inhuman treatment, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Torture is also prohibited under the Constitution of Guinea-Bissau. 12. The delegation indicated that the Government of Guinea-Bissau will always be ready to cooperate with the human rights mechanisms and has invited the Special Rapporteurs to visit the country to form their own opinion of the human rights situation in the country. 13. The delegation recalled the tragic events that Guinea-Bissau had witnessed on 1 and 2 March and 5 June 2009, resulting in the assassination of the President of the Republic, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, the former Minister of Administration and the former Minister of Defence. The international community has demanded that all the killings should be investigated and that those responsible be brought to justice. The Government shares this desire. 14. A new shadow was cast over the image of Guinea-Bissau, on 1 April 2010, when in a further illegal and anti-constitutional military intervention, the Prime Minister was kidnapped and Vice-Admiral José Zamora Induta was unlawfully detained. These events created an extremely disturbing situation for the Government, the Parliament and the President of the Republic. 15. The Government has placed all available resources at the disposal of the Public Prosecutor’s Office to enable it to carry out the required investigations into the events of 1 and 2 March and 5 June 2009, with the support of the judicial police, pursuant to the terms of the Constitution and criminal legislation. 16. On the request of the Prosecutor-General, the Government has solicited financial assistance from the United Nations Peacebuilding Support Office in Guinea-Bissau to cover the cost of the inquiries into the assassination of President João Bernardo Vieira, given that the principal witnesses are currently overseas, specifically in Belgium, France and Senegal. Despite all these obstacles, the Prosecutor-General has informed the Government that the investigations into the events of 1 and 2 March and 5 June 2009 are progressing. 17. On the President’s initiative, the Government, military leaders, members of parliament, political parties, civil society and former soldiers are currently engaged in an intensive political consultation process, to discover how best to put an end to the succession of crises afflicting the country, which is the only way the Government will be free to exercise its constitutional powers and guarantee the military’s subordination to the political authorities, this being a prerequisite for cementing the rule of law in Guinea-Bissau. Domestic political and judicial institutions need to be strengthened and the army restructured if the country is to be modernized and lasting peace and stability secured. 4 GE.10-14446