A/HRC/34/54 B. Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in police custody and pretrial detention 1. Promoting non-coercive interviewing practices 26. Law enforcement officers and officials from other investigative bodies are obliged to respect and protect the inherent dignity and physical and mental integrity of all persons, including suspects, witnesses and victims. Nevertheless, the use of torture, other illtreatment, coercion and intimidation against persons in custody and during interviews continues unabated in most if not all regions of the world. This is so not only despite the universal and absolute prohibition of such practices, but also despite scientific and historical evidence that abusive and coercive techniques elicit unreliable information and have adverse operational, institutional and public safety consequences. 27. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the proposal put forward by his predecessor in his last report to the General Assembly (A/71/298) in which he advocated for the development of universal guidelines for investigative interviewing practices. These would be grounded in fundamental principles of international human rights law and would identify a set of standards for non-coercive interviewing methods and procedural safeguards that ought, as a matter of law and policy, to be applied at a minimum to all interviews by law enforcement officials, military and intelligence personnel and other bodies with investigative mandates. 28. The Special Rapporteur proposed that the first step in the development of universal guidelines on investigative interviewing would be to hold a broad public consultation. In parallel, OHCHR was tasked by the Human Rights Council, in its resolution 31/31, to organize an intersessional seminar to exchange national experiences and best practices on the implementation of effective safeguards to prevent torture and other ill-treatment during police custody. 29. The Special Rapporteur intends to take the work of his predecessor a step further and commits to contribute actively, in consultation and cooperation with other stakeholders, to the development of universal guidelines on investigative interviewing. 2. Conditions of treatment and detention 30. International law requires that States guarantee the effective protection of persons at risk of torture and ill-treatment, in particular persons deprived of their liberty who are under the complete control of the detaining authorities. 7 Indeed, arrest and deprivation of liberty are inherently associated with a risk of intimidation, torture and other ill-treatment,8 and experience shows that this risk is especially high in the very early stages of custody and detention. At times, initial police custody or remand detention is extended beyond the legally permissible period, thus making the detained individual particularly vulnerable to abuse. Moreover, while the physical and psychological conditions of detention in police custody may be acceptable for periods up to 48 hours, they often are completely inadequate for housing persons for any longer periods. 31. Procedural safeguards have been developed to counter the risk of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and their implementation is key to eradicating such abuse in practice (see A/HRC/13/39/Add.5, para. 81). Among the most basic but important safeguards is the immediate and adequate registration of any arrest and 7 8 8 Committee against Torture, General comment No. 2, para. 13; Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 20, paras. 10-11. European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 12th General Report, 3 September 2002, para. 33.