WORKING GROUP ON ARBITRARY DETENTION TO MEET IN GENEVA

WORKING GROUP ON ARBITRARY DETENTION TO MEET IN GENEVA

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 21 May (UN Information Service) –- The United Nations Working Group on arbitrary detention will hold its thirty-ninth session from 24 to 28 May at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

The Working Group, which investigates allegations of arbitrary deprivation of liberty, last year adopted 26 opinions concerning 151 persons in 12 countries.  In 131 cases, it considered the deprivation of liberty to be arbitrary.  The panel also transmitted 157 urgent appeals concerning 812 individuals to 47 governments.  Thirty-three concerned governments informed the Working Group that they had taken measures to remedy the situation of detainees in question; in some cases, the detainees were released, while in others, the Working Group was assured that the detainees concerned would receive fair trial guarantees.  (Details of cases are contained in the Group’s latest report to the Commission on Human Rights, documents E/CN.4/2004/3 and Add.1).

In 2003, the Working Group also made general recommendations on discrimination; deprivation of liberty of vulnerable persons; pre-trial detention; and deprivation of liberty linked to the use of the Internet.  In 2002, it formulated general recommendations on the use of detention as a means of combating terrorism; the recourse to detention as a means of protecting victims (“protective custody”) and the arbitrary character –- on the ground of discrimination -- of detention motivated by sexual orientation.

The Commission on Human Rights established the Working Group in 1991.  The Group’s mandate has since been extended to cover the issue of administrative custody of asylum-seekers and immigrants.  The panel, which meets three times a year in Geneva, is headed by Leïla Zerrougui (Algeria), Chairperson-Rapporteur, and counts as members Tamás Bán (Hungary), as Vice-Chairperson, and Soledad Villagra de Biedermann (Paraguay), Seyyed Mohammad Hashemi and Manuela Carmena Castrillo (Spain).  Cases are submitted to it by representatives of human rights organizations and families of persons in detention or witnesses directly concerned with reports of arbitrary detention.

For more information on the Working Group, please consult the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Fact-Sheet N° 26, or visit the following Internet address:  http://www.unhchr.ch/htm1/menu2/7/b/mard.htm.

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