Question of arbitrary detention.

1992/28.
Question of arbitrary detention

The Commission on Human Rights, Recalling its resolution 1985/16 of 11 March 1985, in which it requested the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities to analyse available information concerning the practice of administrative detention without charge or trial, and to make appropriate recommendations on the use of this practice, Recalling also its resolutions 1988/45 of 8 March 1988 and 1989/38 of 6 March 1989, as well as its decision 1990/107 of 7 March 1990, Reaffirming articles 3, 9 and 10, as well as other relevant provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Having taken note with appreciation, at its forty-seventh session, of the revised report by Mr. Louis Joinet on the practice of administrative detention (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1990/29 and Add.1) and of the recommendations formulated therein, Recalling that the General Assembly, in its resolution 43/173 of 9 December 1988, adopted the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, which also covers administrative detention, and that, consequently, there is no longer a purpose in treating the question of administrative detention independently, even if, in certain cases, the procedure of administrative detention undeniably gives rise to specific abuses, Noting the important work carried out in this field by the Centre for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs of the Secretariat and by the Committee on Crime Prevention and Control, Recalling its resolution 1991/42 of 5 March 1991, in which it decided to create, for a three-year period, a working group composed of five independent experts, with the task of investigating cases of detention imposed arbitrarily or otherwise inconsistently with the relevant international standards set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or in the relevant international legal instruments accepted by the States concerned, Noting the comments made during its forty-eighth session,

1. Expresses its satisfaction to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention at the diligence with which it has devised its methods of work and at having pointed out the importance that it attaches to seeking the cooperation of all those concerned by the cases submitted to it for consideration;

2. Takes note of the report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (E/CN.4/1992/20) and thanks the experts for the rigour with which they have discharged their task;

3. Calls upon the Working Group, in carrying out its mandate, to continue to seek and receive information from Governments and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, as well as information from the individuals concerned or their legal representatives;

4. Invites the Working Group to continue to take account of the need to carry out its task with discretion, objectivity and independence;

5. Requests the Working Group to submit a comprehensive report on its activities to the Commission at its forty-ninth session and to make any suggestions and recommendations enabling it better to carry out its task;

6. Decides to continue consideration of the question at its forty-ninth session under the agenda item entitled "Question of the human rights of all persons subjected to any form of detention or imprisonment".

47th meeting
28 February 1992
[Adopted without a vote. See chap. X.]