A/HRC/13/42* page 11 by examples the wide spread practice of secret detention and related impunity. Finally, the study concludes with concrete recommendations regarding these practices, aimed at curbing the use of secret detention and the unlawful treatment or punishment of detainees in the context of counter-terrorism. 7. Owing to the secrecy of the practice of secret detention, it was often difficult to gather first-hand information; nevertheless, a wide array of national, regional and international sources was consulted. While United Nations sources were drawn upon, primary sources included responses to a questionnaire sent to all Member States (annex I) and interviews with current or former detainees (summaries of which are given in annex II). In some cases, secondary sources such as media and other sources were used. Such accounts, while not always verifiable are utilized when regarded by the mandate holders as credible. Responses to the questionnaire were received from 44 States. A number of interviews were held with people who had been held in secret detention, family members of those held captive, as well as legal representatives of individuals held. The mandate holders conducted face to face interviews in Germany and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Other interviews were conducted by telephone. Formal meetings at the level of capitals were held with officials in Berlin, London and Washington, D.C. The mandate holders thank those States that cooperated with them and facilitated their joint work. They also wish to thank the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) as well as others who provided valuable research and other assistance to the study. II. SECRET DETENTION UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW A. Terminology 8. For the purpose of the present report, it is construed that a person is kept in secret detention if State authorities acting in their official capacity, or persons acting under the orders thereof, with the authorization, consent, support or acquiescence of the State, or in any other situation where the action or omission of the detaining person is attributable to the State,1 deprive persons of their liberty; where the person is not permitted any contact with the outside world (“incommunicado detention”); and when the detaining or otherwise competent authority denies, refuses to confirm or deny or actively conceals the fact that the person is deprived of his/her liberty hidden from the outside world, including, for example family, independent lawyers or non-governmental organizations, or refuses to provide or actively conceals information about the fate or whereabouts of the detainee. In the present report, the term “detention” is used synonymously with “deprivation of liberty”, “keeping in custody” or “holding in custody”. The distinction drawn between “detention” and “imprisonment” in the preamble to the Body of 1 Article 2 (a) of the Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, adopted by the International Law Commission at its fifty-third session, in 2001, taken note of by the General Assembly in its resolution 56/83, and applied by the International Court of Justice, Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro, judgment, 26 February 2007).