A/HRC/4/103 page 6 in the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture. Between 40 and 100 participants attended each seminar, including public officials, human rights institutions and civil society organizations. 18. In 2005, OHCHR provided assistance to the Colombian School of Criminal Investigation and Forensic Sciences to develop an institutional training programme in human rights and international humanitarian law. Advice was provided to the national forensic institute and the national commission responsible for locating persons who disappeared during the internal conflict. A one-day conference on forensic medicine and human rights was held in Casablanca, Morocco, in October 2002. One hundred doctors, magistrates, advocates and officials of the judiciary and police attended. 19. Besides its own work programme, OHCHR follows closely training and capacity-building activities carried out by NGOs promoting United Nations standards. IRCT, for example, embarked in 2003 on an Istanbul Protocol implementation project. The project aimed at raising awareness and contributing to the implementation of the Istanbul Protocol in five pilot countries - Georgia, Mexico, Morocco, Sri Lanka and Uganda. In this context IRCT produced targeted training material for specific professional groups (lawyers, doctors and psychologists).4 The current phase of the project aims to train over 250 health professionals. VI. USE OF FORENSIC EXPERTS IN FACT-FINDING MISSIONS AND COMMISSIONS OF INQUIRY 20. During the reporting period the use of forensic experts in fact-finding missions and commissions of inquiry supported by OHCHR became a frequent practice. Forensic experts accompanied three different fact-finding missions and commissions of inquiry in Côte d’Ivoire: a fact-finding mission to gather precise information regarding violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in 2002; the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the events connected with the march planned for Abidjan on 25 March 2004; and the International Commission of Inquiry into allegations of serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed in Côte d’Ivoire since 19 September 2002, established in 2004. 21. A forensic expert accompanied the fact-finding mission established by the High Commissioner, which took place from 5 February to 5 May 2005, to look into allegations of violence and human rights violations before, during and after the presidential elections of 24 April 2005 in Togo.5 From 22 to 28 May 2006, following a request by the United Nations 4 International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, Medical Physical Examinations of Alleged Torture Victims. A Practical Guide to the Istanbul Protocol - for Medical Doctors (Copenhagen: IRCT, 2004). 5 For more details on these fact-finding missions and commissions of inquiry see the report of the Secretary-General on impunity (E/CN.4/2006/89).

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