A/HRC/16/47 visits provide an excellent opportunity to show developments and progress in detainees’ rights and the respect for human rights, including the crucial right not to be arbitrarily deprived of liberty. 59. Further to this, the Working Group considers that follow-up visits are of the utmost importance. This was evident when the Working Group carried out its followup visit to China in September 2004. The Working Group requests the support of Members States in facilitating follow-up visits. 60. With respect to the application of international instruments on human rights to situations of armed conflict, the Working Group believes that there are particular instances of deprivation of liberty that fall within its mandate. This understanding is premised on principles reiterated by the Human Rights Committee and further supported by case law and opinion by the International Court of Justice. The Geneva Conventions and its additional Protocols governing the ICRC and situations of armed conflict also provide support to fundamental human rights as accepted in international law and laid down in international instruments, and continue to apply fully in situations of armed conflict. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights applies in situations of armed conflict to which the rules of international humanitarian law are applicable. The spheres of both international humanitarian law and human rights law are complementary and not mutually exclusive. 61. The Working Group notes the far-reaching impact of the joint study on secret detention in the context of countering terrorism, particularly in relation to its mandate and instances of arbitrary deprivation of liberty. Secret detention violates the right to personal liberty. Detainees kept in secret are typically deprived of their right to fair trial and possible legal recourse to fundamental remedies such as habeas corpus. 62. Finally, the Working Group considers it most useful to reiterate its concern over the deprivation of liberty imposed arbitrarily, and the fact that a still considerable number of persons are frequently unable to benefit from legal resources and guarantees to which they are entitled for the conduct of their defence by law and by applicable human rights instruments. V. Recommendations 63. To enable the Working Group to report more systematically and comprehensively, it reiterates its proposal to the Human Rights Council to expand the mandate of the Working Group to include the examination of conditions of detention around the world and the monitoring of States’ compliance with their obligations concerning all human rights of detained and imprisoned persons. The mandates of the Special Rapporteur on Prisons and Conditions of Detention in Africa and of the Rapporteurship on the Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights might provide some guidance as to the scope of such an extended mandate. 64. In view of information of a serious nature received concerning reprisals suffered by a judge who applied a Working Group’s Opinion and individuals subject to urgent appeals or Opinions, States are urged to cease such practice. 65. The Working Group recommends consideration of the argument put forth in this report regarding the application of international instruments on human rights in situations of armed conflict and that the application of international humanitarian 19