A/HRC/7/4 page 21 corrupt prison staff facilitate sexual relations between male and female detainees or that prison staff themselves have sexual relations with female detainees in exchange for favourable treatment. It is a serious issue of concern and a particularly contemptible form of corruption when even release from custody may depend on providing sexual favours to the police, immigration officers or prison authorities. The same goes for the example of a young woman met by the Working Group during one of its visits who was detained pending her expulsion and reported that she had received offers from detention facility personnel to remain in the country in return for sexual services. 56. Such situations fall squarely within the mandate of the Working Group insofar as a structural lack of legal procedures, the absence or non-observance of legal criteria governing deprivation of liberty and a culture of impunity for abuses prevail. In the event that officials in charge of detention facilities offer victims release from custody in return for sexual services, this also falls within the scope of the mandate of the Working Group. Against this background the Working Group would like to bring to the attention of the Council the complete picture of allegations received and observations made. 57. In this context the Working Group reiterates the obligation of States to protect those who are held in their custody from assaults and abuses by fellow detainees. It is imperative to allocate entirely separate premises to women in institutions which receive both men and women, if it is not possible to detain women in separate institutions, and to keep young prisoners separate from adults as, for example, envisaged by paragraph 8 of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. The obligation to protect the right to freedom from violence is even more obvious as far as abuses committed by State authorities are concerned. 58. The Working Group considers that if the penitentiary system is functioning properly, no abuses will be found. If there are cases, an effective complaint procedure will ensure that they do not go unpunished and an efficient correctional service system with professional staff will guarantee prevention of such incidents in the future. Drawing on the foregoing, the Working Group would like to highlight the importance of a well-organized penitentiary system with well-trained staff. C. Detention in the context of counter-terrorism measures and states of emergency 59. The Working Group requests States to refrain from directly or indirectly supporting, or otherwise tolerating terrorist organizations or individual terrorists in their territory planning or preparing terrorist actions abroad, and welcomes measures taken to combat international terrorism. However, another issue of concern for the Working Group remains the continuing tendency towards deprivation of liberty by States abusing states of emergency or derogation, invoking special powers specific to states of emergency without formal declaration, having recourse to military, special or emergency courts, not observing the principle of proportionality between the severity of the measures taken and the situation concerned, and employing vague definitions of offences allegedly designed to protect State security and combat terrorism.