A/HRC/22/58
VIII. Recommendations
86.
All prisoners of conscience should be released immediately and unconditionally.
87.
The Commission to grant liberty to remaining prisoners of conscience should
include all relevant stakeholders, including civil society and former prisoners of
conscience, and should be established as a permanent body to review future detentions
and be given a broad terms of reference to help ensure the rights of released prisoners
of conscience are respected.
88.
To address the ongoing practice of torture in places of detention, the
Government should:
(a)
Prosecute allegations of torture by police and army personnel through
the criminal justice system;
(b)
Ensure human rights training programmes for police officers and prison
officials, and develop the capacity of other relevant public officials, including judges
and doctors, who can intervene on suspected cases of torture;
(c)
Continue the good cooperation with the ICRC;
(d)
Provide national and other international monitoring groups with access
to places of detention;
(e)
Prioritize the ratification of the Convention against Torture and other
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment of Punishment, and its Optional Protocol;
(f)
Invite the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment to conduct a country visit;
(g)
Improve health care in prisons;
(h)
Adopt and implement a new Prisons Law to help address concerns over
the use of solitary confinement, transfers to remote prisons and non-judicial
punishment.
89.
To continue progress in improving media freedom, the Government should:
(a)
Remove the power of the Copyright and Registration Division to
summon journalists for questioning and suspend publications;
(b)
Reform the registration process for print publications, so that the
granting and revocation of licences cannot be used as a tool for censorship;
(c)
Pass a right to information act;
(d)
In addition to passing a new media law, review the proposed Printing
and Publishing Enterprise Law and reform the Electronic Transactions Law (2004),
the Motion Picture Law (1996), the Computer Science Development Law (1996), the
Television and Video Law (1985), the Printers and Publishers Registration Act (1962),
the Wireless Telegraphy Act (1933), the Emergency Provisions Act (1950), and the
State Protection Act (1975) to bring them into line with international human rights
standards;
(e)
Establish an independent and public broadcasting licensing authority
with the power to examine broadcasting applications and to grant licences;
(f)
Ensure public service broadcasting operates independently with editorial
freedom, including through a system of funding that does not undermine
independence;
18
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