A/HRC/26/45 the prison population and detention facilities speaks volumes in terms of transparency that should be inherent in any system of incarceration based on the rule of law. 78. The Special Rapporteur uses the terms “detention facility”, “detention centre” or “place of detention” interchangeably, and in a broad manner, to include any location where a person is kept in custody, including prisons, police stations, prisons or holding cells where military personnel are held or any other place where the liberty of an individual is restricted or curtailed, insofar as he or she is not allowed to leave at will. Detention centres are staffed by military personnel (army corps, army division, and army border surveillance unit), the police, as well as the staff of the Eritrean Correctional and Rehabilitation Services, all of whom are national service conscripts. 79. While the term “detainee” sometimes refers only to those at the pretrial stage, and not to convicted prisoners, it is used herein in the broadest possible manner to mean any individual who is deprived of his/her liberty and held in a detention facility, following arrest, pretrial detention or conviction. Other terms used interchangeably in the present document include “person in custody”, “people in custody” and “prisoners”. A. 1. Arrest and deprivation of liberty People deprived of their liberty 80. In Eritrea, the police, the military police and internal security regularly arrest and detain citizens without due process and often use force while doing so. Detainees are held in underground prisons or in metal shipping containers, in extreme weather conditions, or in secret detention places. Political prisoners or prisoners of conscience are held without being informed of the reasons for their arrest and without an arrest warrant. They are not formally charged with a recognizable crime, nor brought before a court of law to review the legality of their detention nor tried, in contravention of article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Others, such as draft evaders, are presumed to know the reason for their arrest and detention, and the punishment(s) provided for in article 37 the National Service Proclamation are applied in their case. Those persons do not have any recourse to challenge the legality of the detention. 2. Methods of arrest 81. Methods of arrest differ, depending on circumstances. For example, those who overstay their official leave or who desert national service, may be track them down in their homes and villages by the security forces, and taken to a holding cell or prison, then back to their military unit, where they will be held. Many people are arrested at the border while attempting to cross into neighbouring countries; people are often arrested at night and taken to secret detention places, without family members knowing of their whereabouts or being able to visit them. Furthermore, people are afraid to enquire about the whereabouts of their loved ones, lest they too are arrested and detained. 3. Presumed reasons for arrest and detention 82. In Eritrea, people are arrested and detained without any formal charges. Therefore most people can only speculate about the reasons for arrest and detention; the following reasons are cited frequently : (a) evading or deserting national service and military conscription; (b) overstaying leave while serving in national service; (c) during giffas – round ups to conscript people by force into the military; (d) attempting to flee the country; (e) trumped up charges of “plotting to leave the country” or helping others to flee; (f) failing to pay a fine when a family member has fled the country; (g) held in lieu of a parent or family member having left the country; (h) inability to produce identification documents 16