A/HRC/10/21 page 2 Summary During 2008, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention visited Colombia, Italy, Mauritania and Ukraine at the invitation of the Governments of these countries. The reports on these visits are contained in the addenda to the present document (A/HRC/10/21/Add.2-5). During the period from 1 December 2007 to 30 November 2008, the Working Group adopted 46 Opinions concerning 183 persons in 22 countries. These Opinions are contained in the first addendum to the present document (A/HRC/10/21/Add.1). Also during this period, the Group transmitted a total of 130 urgent appeals concerning 1,256 individuals, including 57 women, 4 boys and 3 girls, to 44 Governments. Governments informed the Working Group that they had taken measures to remedy the situation of the detainees: in some cases, the detainees were released; in other cases, the Working Group was assured that the detainees concerned would enjoy fair trial guarantees. The Working Group has continued to develop its follow-up procedure and has sought to engage in a continuous dialogue with those countries visited by the Working Group, in respect of which it had recommended changes to domestic legislation governing detention or to adopt other measures. Information about the implementation of the Working Group’s recommendations was received from the Governments of Belarus, Canada, China, Ecuador and Turkey, countries visited by the Working Group in 2004, 2005 and 2006, respectively. The present report includes several issues which have given rise to concern during 2008. In particular, the Working Group denounces the fact that an important proportion of the 9 million persons deprived of their liberty worldwide are unable to benefit from legal resources and guarantees that they are entitled to for the conduct of their defence. Most do not have the economic means to afford expensive and complex legal procedures. They not only have difficulties in verifying the lawfulness of their detention, but also find themselves subject to lack of an effective control of their other rights. Therefore, the Working Group proposes to the Human Rights Council an extension of its mandate to include the monitoring of State compliance with their obligations concerning all human rights of detained and imprisoned persons. The Working Group includes in its report a list of principles that it has elaborated concerning deprivation of liberty of persons accused of acts of terrorism. It also proposes to hold a special forum on the respect of the right not to be arbitrarily deprived of liberty in the counter-terrorism context, giving special consideration to the methods and framework applied by the States in emergency situations. The Working Group notes that the corruption it has observed in some countries makes the whole system of guarantees devoid of any content and reduces the credibility of the entire administration of justice system. It calls upon States to become a party to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, which recently entered into force. Finally, the Working Group reiterates that immigrants in irregular situations should not be qualified or treated as criminals nor viewed only from the perspective of national security. Detention should be of the last resort, permissible only for the shortest period of time.