A/HRC/13/64 12. Due to lack of security, crumbling infrastructure, corruption and the slowness of judicial proceedings, pretrial detainees and convicted prisoners, including high-profile offenders, regularly escape. Between March and November 2009, 135 detainees escaped from the prison of Mahagi, Ituri District, Orientale Province. The frequency of escapes from Congolese prisons seriously undermines efforts to fight impunity. In some instances, actions were taken against officials accused of having facilitated escapes: the director of Mahagi prison was arrested on 3 July 2009, and the second in command of the Gwoknyeri police station (27 km from Mahagi) was arrested on 10 June 2009. 13. The Parliament has not yet adopted a law criminalizing torture, and detainees in custody are still frequently subjected to torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment by the PNC, ANR and FARDC. Ill-treatment occurs at different stages of the detention process — upon arrest, during interrogation and in pretrial detention — and often results in the death of or serious injury to the detainee. On 16 June 2009, for instance, a detainee died in a prison cell in the groupement of Bena Mpiana, Ngandajika territory, Kasaï Oriental Province, after he was arrested and beaten by PNC officers because he was “illegally” wearing “policeman” shoes. Only a few investigations into alleged acts of torture and ill-treatment and trials for such acts have been carried out during the period under review. No effective measures have been taken by the Government to ensure that all persons reporting torture or ill-treatment are protected from threats or intimidation. Actions taken by the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office 14. During the period under review, UNJHRO continued to make frequent visits to prisons throughout the country, including joint visits with the Minister of Human Rights in some provinces, and documented crumbling cells, lack of food and medical care, corruption, and unqualified prison staff. In the case of food insecurity, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) intervenes when 30 per cent of those detained in a facility are suffering from malnutrition. As such it is providing sufficient food to overcome the malnutrition problem in eight locations. This has reduced the problem of deaths from malnutrition in detention. However, there is concern that ICRC assistance has lulled the Government, which had done very little, into doing even less. UNJHRO has continued to carry out its awareness-raising activities and to promote the adoption of a law criminalizing torture. In the context of the celebration of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on 26 June 2009, UNJRHO organized a number of activities. Furthermore, in partnership with Avocats sans frontières (ASF), UNJHRO facilitates the implementation of decisions by the United Nations Trust Fund for Victims of Torture. In October 2009, in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice and judicial authorities, UNJHRO organized a workshop on “the judiciary and the problem of torture and death in prison”. At this workshop, participants asked the Procureur général de la République près la Cour suprême (Prosecutor General of the Republic to the Supreme Court) to draft a directive for the prosecutors on the need “to effectively investigate cases of torture and death in custody”. This directive is currently being developed with the assistance of UNJHRO. UNJHRO has actively continued to advocate for making prisons more self-sufficient Obstacles to the implementation of existing recommendations 15. Prison personnel are for the most part not systematically recruited, are not trained and are not being paid. Moreover, the Government does not provide adequate funding for prisons and detention facilities. There appears to be little desire within Government to address the prison situation and to begin the necessary reforms, because this would upset the network of corruption which has developed around the “privatization” of the penitentiary function. The creation of prison farms to guarantee a food supply and the provision of basic medicines to prevent disease outbreaks are necessary steps, but the “privatization” of the State function has impeded even these efforts. Regarding the GE.10-10563 7