A/HRC/29/4 recruitment and promotion of police officers had been developed in cooperation with civil society. The reform’s objectives included the formation of a multi-ethnic police force and gender equality within the law enforcement agencies. Nevertheless, significant work still remained to be carried out in cooperation with civil society and international organizations, as the reform was in its initial stage of implementation. 66. Regarding questions on domestic violence, the Ministry of Internal Affairs had developed instructions and regulations to organize the law enforcement bodies to prevent domestic violence effectively and implement the Social and Legal Protection against Domestic Violence Act. Amendments to the Administrative Code had also been drafted and adopted at the initiative of the Ministry of Interior in order to ensure harsher administrative penalties for domestic violence, including administrative detention up to five days. A memorandum of understanding had been signed between the Ministry of Internal Affairs and crisis centres to organize their cooperation in combating domestic violence and bridekidnapping. The delegation referred to the significant increase in registered cases of domestic violence in the period 2010–2014, owing to the effective response of police officers and the cooperation established between local authorities, social and health workers and civil society representatives. 67. The legal amendments to the Criminal Code provided harsher punishments for the abduction of women and girls for the purpose of marriage, as well as for the forced marriage of girls. Those legal amendments had been drafted during extensive consultations with civil society representatives and international organizations. 68. Several measures had been taken to: ensure unhindered access to justice; protect defence lawyers, witnesses and victims against threats and harassment during trials, including those related to the 2010 ethnic conflict; and ensure public security and stability after the violent events of June 2010. In that respect, a special unit within the Ministry of Interior Affairs had been established for the protection of the rights of witnesses. 69. Torture had become a criminal offence in 2003. However, no one had been prosecuted for the crime of torture. The reason was that the occurrence of torture in Kyrgyzstan had been recognized at all levels only in 2010. Consequently, a number of measures had been undertaken to combat torture and ill-treatment since 2010, in particular the inclusion of anti-torture provisions in the Constitution and the adoption of the National Plan to Combat Torture. Monitoring by the Prosecutor’s Office to uncover cases of torture and ill-treatment had been strengthened and the Prosecutor’s Office now conducted systematic and unannounced visits to places of deprivation of liberty. A harsher penalty had been established for torture, which had become a serious crime in law. Methodology and instructions had been developed on how to investigate effectively cases of torture and illtreatment. Almost all temporary detention sites and investigation cells had been equipped with cameras for internal monitoring. 70. An important means of combating torture was the Memorandum on Cooperation in Protecting Human Rights and Freedoms, signed in 2012 by the Ombudsman, the Procurator-General, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Justice, the State Penal Correction Service, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and human rights organizations. The signatories of the memorandum were entitled to carry out joint visits to places of deprivation of liberty throughout the country without prior authorization. The preventive measures had resulted in a decrease in reported cases of torture and ill-treatment in 2013 and in 2014 as compared to previous years. 71. Several legal acts had been adopted to combat terrorism and extremism, given the serious threats to public security, and sanctions against persons committing such crimes had been stepped up. Nevertheless, the respective laws and regulations set clear rules and conditions for the use of force and firearms by State security officers. 10