The Malian prison system faces many challenges: prison overcrowding, lack of categorical separation of detainees, imperfect security arrangements, inadequate staff training, lack of control over the length and conditions of detention of persons deprived of their liberty and ineffective rehabilitation policy. This situation is conducive to the development of inappropriate behaviour to the detriment of detainees, at a time when the 59 penitentiary centres in Mali are experiencing an almost constant deterioration, accentuated by the multidimensional crisis that has persisted since

2012.

 

Upstream, the police and national police forces are also faced with a drastic lack of resources and a lack of training, which in some cases can lead to acts of torture and ill-treatment of suspects. They are often deprived of their liberty well beyond the legal time limits, in undignified conditions, even though the "religion of confession" can lead to reprehensible practices.

 

In this context, ASF France considers that the systematic monitoring of places of deprivation of liberty and the training of those involved in the justice system are effective means of ensuring that Mali complies with its international

commitments, in particular the United Nations Convention against Torture and its Optional Protocol, which were ratified on 26 February 1999 and 12 May 2005 respectively.