A/HRC/37/27 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 31/31, the Human Rights Council requested that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) convene an intersessional, full-day, open-ended seminar with the objective of exchanging national experiences and practices on the implementation of effective safeguards to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment during police custody and pretrial detention. The seminar was held in Geneva on 6 October 2017.1 Discussion focused on three main topics: legal and judicial safeguards for the prevention of torture; implementation of practical measures to prevent torture and ill-treatment; and oversight and complaint mechanisms. The Council also requested that OHCHR prepare a summary report of the above-mentioned seminar, and to submit the report to the Council at its thirty-seventh session. II. Overview of panel presentations and discussions 2. Representatives of the following States were present: Afghanistan; Algeria; Argentina; Australia; Austria; Brazil; Bulgaria; Chile; Colombia; Denmark; Dominican Republic; Egypt; Estonia; Finland; Germany; Greece; Hungary; Iraq; Ireland; Japan; Kenya; Liechtenstein; Lithuania; Morocco; Mexico; Portugal; Qatar; Republic of Korea; Rwanda; San Marino; Sierra Leone; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; Turkey; Ukraine; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; United States of America; and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of). They included representatives from capitals, including from the ministries of justice, national preventive mechanisms, the national police and prosecution authorities. Representatives of the following observers, intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and United Nations mechanisms attended: the Association for the Prevention of Torture, the African Centre Against Torture, the Convention against Torture Initiative, the European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Commission of Jurists, the International Service for Human Rights, World Organization against Torture, the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the Committee against Torture. III. Opening statement 3. The Director of the Thematic Engagement, Special Procedures and Right to Development Division of OHCHR delivered the opening remarks. In her introduction, she observed that the existence of several different mechanisms to combat torture, and the international legal framework that unambiguously prohibited torture, demonstrated the importance that the international community attached to preventing torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. However, despite that, and the fact that torture as a method of investigation had been shown to be ineffective and to produce unreliable information, torture and ill-treatment of persons during police custody and pretrial detention continued. She emphasized that the risk of torture and other forms of illtreatment was greatest in the first hours and days after arrest and those were the periods when detainees were most likely not to have access to legal assistance, independent medical examinations or anyone else who could raise concerns. Once detainees were moved to longer term pretrial detention, they often faced dire conditions that might amount to illtreatment. 1 Please see programme: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/ EffectiveSafeguardsPreventTorture/Programme.pdf. 3