Geneva/ Information Office/ 09 March 2015/ Qatar affirmed its full compliance with its obligations under human rights conventions, including the convention against torture, saying that its criminal laws and its treaty obligations prohibit torture explicitly and comprehensively and that the culture of impunity has no place in the Qatari legal system. This was stated by Director of the Human Rights Department at the Foreign Ministry Sheikh Khalid bin Jassim Al-Thani before the 28th session of the human rights council Item 3- Interactive dialogue report of the special rapporteur on torture. It is not a mere legal obligation, HE Sheikh Khalid said, adding 'we are doing this out of our moral obligation stipulated in our traditions and culture'. He underlined some of the recent actions undertaken by Qatar, pointing out that Qatar had amended its Penal Code by adding an explicit definition of torture that fully complies with the definition contained in article (1) of the convention against torture, in response to the recommendation of the Committee against torture on the initial state report. This explicit definition aimed at strengthening the absolute prohibition of torture mentioned in the country's constitution, and explaining the serious nature of this type of crime as well as Qatar's support to banning torture in all circumstances and conditions. This was included in the law No. 8 of 2010 amending the provisions of the Penal Code promulgated by Law No. 11 of 2011, he added. Recognizing the importance of narrowing the reservations about the convention against torture and in response to the recommendation of the committee against torture, he said Qatar has reformulated its reservations about the convention by withdrawing its reservations about articles (21) and (22), and amending its reservation about the convention to articles (1) and (16) of the convention. In this regard, he pointed to the Emiri Decree No.75 of 2011, pertaining to the establishment of Qatar's Administrative Control and Transparency Authority that aims to achieve control, transparency, integrity and combat corruption in all its forms and manifestations. This authority is directly affiliated to HH the Emir. In the area of the punitive and corrective establishments, he stated that Qatar is committed to providing safe and humane custody to the detainees, pointing out that Qatar's standards for managing and observing punitive systems match international standards. In this context, Qatar issued Law No. 15 of 2011 on combating human trafficking to protect individuals against physical and psychological torture or other forms of cruel and inhuman treatments.