A/RES/56/175 (f) To continue to strengthen its efforts to ensure the rule of law by bringing legislation more into line with the Constitution and into conformity with the applicable international human rights instruments to which the Sudan is a party, and to ensure that all individuals in its territory enjoy fully the rights recognized in those instruments; (g) To liberalize the legal provisions on public order and to continue assimilation into a regular criminal justice system; (h) To ensure full respect for freedom of religion and, in this respect, to consult fully with religious leaders and other parties concerned when considering any new legislation on religious activities, to remove obstacles to obtaining permission to construct religious buildings, to respect the sanctity of religious buildings and to resolve church property issues; (i) To implement fully existing legislation, including the appeals procedures, that safeguards human rights and democracy, in particular the Associations and Political Parties Act; (j) To raise the age of criminal responsibility for children in order to take into account the observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child; (k) To implement the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners 11 and to continue to give special consideration to imprisoned women and juveniles; (l) To take all effective measures to end and to prevent all acts of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, to take into account extenuating circumstances to the maximum extent possible, to ensure that all accused persons are held in ordinary custody and receive prompt, just and fair trials under internationally recognized standards, to investigate all reported human rights violations, including acts of torture, brought to its attention and to bring to justice those responsible for such violations; (m) To ensure that capital punishment will not be imposed for crimes other than the most serious and will not be pronounced in disregard of the obligations assumed under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the provisions of United Nations safeguards; (n) To take concrete measures to prevent and stop the abductions of women and children taking place within the framework of the conflict in southern Sudan, to bring to trial any persons suspected of supporting or participating in such activities, to support more strongly and more effectively the Committee for the Eradication of Abduction of Women and Children and to facilitate the safe return of affected children to their families as a matter of priority, in particular through the Committee for the Eradication of Abduction of Women and Children, with which all concerned have the responsibility and the duty to cooperate; (o) To make concerted efforts to restrain the activities of the Murahaleen and to end the grave human rights abuses against civilians associated with their activities, to refrain from integrating them in the Sudanese army’s military action and to stop financing and equipping them; _______________ 11 See Human Rights: A Compilation of International Instruments, volume I (First Part) (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.94.XIV.1 (Vol. I, Part 1)). 7