A/HRC/13/42* page 27 7. Secret detention and international humanitarian law 54. International humanitarian law prohibits secret detention as clearly as international human rights law does. Under the Geneva Conventions, which apply to all armed conflicts, there are situations in which persons falling into two categories may be detained: prisoners of war and civilians. Generally, prisoners of war are to be released at the end of active hostilities. Civilians may be detained by an occupying power under very strict conditions, namely (a) if such detention is “necessary for imperative reasons of security”60 and (b) for penal prosecutions. The use of novel status designations to avoid Geneva Convention protections, such as “unlawful enemy combatants”, is irrelevant in this context from a legal point of view, as “it does not constitute a category recognized and defined under international law”.61 This is true also for non-international armed conflicts, albeit the notion of prisoners of war is not directly applicable.62 55. Notwithstanding the capacity to detain individuals, the entire system of detention provided for by the Geneva Conventions is founded on the notion that detainees must be registered and held in officially recognized places of detention. According to article 70 of the Third Geneva Convention, prisoners of war are to be documented, and their whereabouts and health conditions made available to family members and to the country of origin of the prisoner within one week. Article 106 of the Fourth Geneva Convention governing the treatment of civilians establishes virtually identical procedures for the documentation and disclosure of information concerning civilian detainees. According to ICRC, these procedures are meant to ensure that internment is not a measure of punishment; interned persons must therefore not be held incommunicado.63 The 60 Fourth Geneva Convention, art. 42 and 78. 61 See the report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, mission to the United States of America (A/HRC/6/17/Add.3), paras. 11-12, the report on the situation of detainees at Guantánamo Bay of the Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief and the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health (E/CN.4/2006/120), para. 20 et seq; and Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, opinion No. 43/2006 (A/HRC/7/4/Add.1), para. 31. 62 Interpretive guidance on the notion of direct participation in hostilities under international humanitarian law, ICRC, Geneva 2009, in particular pp. 27-36. 63 ICRC commentary to the Fourth Geneva Convention, art. 106, available at the ICRC website (www.icrc.org). See also Henckaerts and Doswald-Beck, Customary International Humanitarian Law, Volume I: Rules, (ICRC, 2005), at pp. 439-449, regarding mandatory recording of personal details of detainees, the right to communicate with families and the right to receive visitors.