3) SESSION 3 : EFFECTIVE MEASURES FOR THE PREVENTION OF TORTURE (facilitated by Dr. Sivia Casale) The facilitator reminded the participants that Malaysia has stated in its public pledges to the UN in seeking re-election to the Human Rights Council and also in Universal Periodic Review (UPR), to consider ratifying the CAT. With the repeal of ISA, the replacing laws must take into consideration measures to prevent torture and ill-treatment. 3.1 Participants’ Sharing of Experiences in Measures for Prevention of Torture • The Police, since 2006 has incorporated human rights trainings for new police recruits. The facilitator emphasized that human rights trainings for senior enforcement officers are just as important. • The Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) had started to video record their investigation session, with a copy of records each given to the suspect and to the central registry. • The Commission’s roles in preventing abuses include: i) Conducting human rights trainings for enforcement agencies. ii) Visits to prisons and detention centres. As a result of some of its recommendations, prisons had been able to obtain additional funds to implement the measures recommended. The visits must be announced, and the prison and detention centres must grant access. It is observed that during these visits, the premises are always clean. This however may not necessarily reflect the condition at other times. iii) • Conduct investigations into allegations of human rights abuse cases including deaths in custody. Often, investigations were hampered by the difficulties in obtaining evidence, for example, in investigating an incident involving a riot in the prison, no evidence could be obtained as there was no CCTV recording available. Access to lawyer is a crucial element in preventing torture, and the facilitator presented the following questions on the lawyer’s accessibility to client: 9