I. Procedural elements
a. Mandate of the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
In accordance with the most recent mandate of the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), clarified and extended by resolution 1997/501 1 and 24/7 of 26 September 2013, the Human Rights Council has entrusted the Working Group with the following mandate:
(a) To investigate cases of deprivation of liberty imposed arbitrarily or otherwise inconsistently with the relevant international standards set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) or in the relevant international legal instruments accepted by the States concerned. This is usually done through the regular communications procedure resulting in the adoption and issuance of an Opinion of the Working Group;
(b) To seek and receive information from Governments and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, and receive information from the individuals concerned, their families or their representatives;
(c) To act on information submitted to its attention regarding alleged cases of arbitrary detention by sending urgent appeals and communications to concerned Governments to clarify and to bring to their attention these cases. This can be done either through urgent appeals, allegation letters or other letters, in accordance with the Manual of Operations of the Special Procedures;
(d) To conduct field missions upon the invitation of Government, in order to understand better the situations prevailing in countries, as well as the underlying reasons for instances of arbitrary deprivation of liberty;
(e) To formulate deliberations on issues of a general nature in order to assist States to prevent and guard against the practice of arbitrary deprivation of liberty and to facilitate consideration of future cases;
(f) To present an annual report to the Human Rights Council presenting its activities, findings, conclusions and recommendations.
