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23 November 2001






The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights will open its thirty-second session next Monday, 26 November 2001 at the Palais Wilson in Geneva.

The Working Group, established in 1991, investigates instances of alleged arbitrary deprivation of liberty, provided that no final decision has been taken in such cases by local courts. Its mandate also covers the issue of administrative custody of asylum-seekers and immigrants. Representatives of human rights organizations and families or witnesses directly concerned with reports of arbitrary detention submit cases to the panel.

Last year, the Working Group adopted 39 Opinions concerning 21 countries and 115 persons. In 33 Opinions, it considered the deprivation of liberty to be arbitrary. In the same period, the Working Group transmitted to Governments 34 communications as well as total of 107 urgent appeals concerning 499 individuals to 45 Governments and the Palestinian Authority. The Working Group also formulated general recommendations on human rights and State secrets, detention of conscientious objectors and extradition issues.

The Working Group meets three times a year in Geneva. It is composed of five independent Experts appointed in the light of criteria governing equitable geographical distribution which apply in the United Nations. The Working Group is headed by Kapil Sibal (India) as Chairman-Rapporteur and Louis Joinet (France) as Vice-Chairman and is composed of Soledad Villagra de Biedermann (Paraguay), Leïla Zerrougui (Algeria) and Tamás Bán (Hungary).


Arbitrary Detention

According to the methods of work of the Group, deprivation of liberty is arbitrary if a case falls into one of the following three categories:

(a) When it is clearly impossible to invoke any legal basis justifying the deprivation of liberty (as when a person is kept in detention after the completion of his sentence or despite an amnesty law applicable to him) (category I);

(b) When the deprivation of liberty results from the exercise of the rights or freedoms guaranteed by articles 7, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20 and 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and, insofar as States parties are concerned, by articles 12, 18, 19, 21, 22, 25, 26 and 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (category II); and

(c) When the total or partial non-observance of the international norms relating to the right to a fair trial, spelled out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the relevant international instruments accepted by the States concerned, is of such gravity as to give the deprivation of liberty an arbitrary character.


For more information, including previous reports of the Working Group, please visit the following Internet address: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu2/7/b/mard.htm



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