A/HRC/13/30 I. Introduction 1. The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention was established by Commission on Human Rights resolution 1991/42 and entrusted with the investigation of instances of alleged arbitrary deprivation of liberty, according to the standards set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the relevant international instruments accepted by the States concerned. The mandate of the Working Group was clarified and extended by the Commission in resolution 1997/50 to cover the issue of administrative custody of asylumseekers and immigrants. At its sixth session the Human Rights Council adopted resolution 6/4 which confirmed the scope of the mandate and extended it for a further three-year period. 2. During the period 1 January 2009 to 31 July 2009, Manuela Carmena Castrillo (Spain) was a member of the Working Group and its Chairperson-Rapporteur. She was replaced as a member of the Working Group by Mads Andenas (Norway), who assumed his mandate on 1 August 2009. Since then, the Working Group has been composed of Shaheen Sardar Ali (Pakistan), Aslan Abashidze (Russian Federation), Roberto Garretón (Chile) and El Hadji Malick Sow (Senegal), in addition to Mr. Andenas. 3. On 31 August 2009, Mr. Sow was appointed as Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group and Ms. Ali as Vice-Chairperson. II. Activities of the Working Group in 2009 4. During the period 1 January to 30 November 2009, the Working Group held its fifty-fourth, fifty-fifth and fifty-sixth sessions. It carried out two official missions to Malta (19–23 January 2009) and to Senegal (5–15 September 2009) (see A/HRC/13/30/Add.2 and 3). 5. On 21 January 2009, Mr. Abashidze participated in a seminar in Geneva on the prevention of genocide, reflecting on strategies for effective prevention of genocide and other mass atrocities. 6. On 10 March 2009, at the tenth session of the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism; the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, and the former Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention announced that a global joint study into the practice of secret detention in the context of contemporary efforts in countering terrorism would be undertaken by these respective mandates. The Working Group designated its member and current Vice-Chair, Ms. Ali, to represent the Working Group in the joint study. 7. On 17 September 2009, the Human Rights Council held a panel discussion on the human rights of migrants in detention centres as envisaged in its resolution 11/9 of 12 June 2009, in which Mr. Sow participated. The Working Group recalls that in its annual report for 2007 it recommended to the Human Rights Council an in-depth and urgent deliberation to seek effective alternatives to prevent violations of rights affecting the large numbers of asylum-seekers and irregular migrants in detention around the world1 It welcomes the fact 1 4 A/HRC/7/4, para. 80 (a). GE.10-10294