A/HRC/4/40 page 2 Summary The present report is being submitted to the Human Rights Council at the conclusion of the fifteenth year of activity of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. In the first part, the Working Group recalls its main activities during these 15 years, including the thematic issues it dealt with in its reports and the countries it visited. The second part provides an overview of the Opinions issued by the Working Group in the course of 2006 on communications received and the urgent appeals addressed to Governments. It also includes the reactions of Governments to these communications. It discusses the follow-up to the visits undertaken by the Working Group in 2004, namely to Belarus, China and Latvia. The third part of the report discusses the problem of arbitrary detention in the context of the international transfer of detainees, particularly in efforts to counter terrorism. As reflected in the rising number of cases being dealt with by the Working Group (some of which are reviewed in the present report), this is an issue of growing concern. The Working Group argues that both human rights law and the anti-terror conventions adopted under the auspices of the United Nations enshrine a clear preference for extradition as the legal framework for such transfers. The practice of so-called “renditions”, on the contrary, because it is aimed at avoiding all procedural safeguards, is not compatible with international law. The Working Group further argues that, in applying the principle of non-refoulement, Governments should not only examine whether the person to be removed will be at risk of extrajudicial killing or torture but also whether there is a substantial risk of arbitrary detention. In this respect, diplomatic assurances (which are not acceptable with regard to the risk of torture) can be a legitimate means to protect against arbitrary detention and unfair trial, provided stringent conditions are satisfied. A current practice in the context of countering terrorism, however, is to seek what could be called “reverse diplomatic assurances”, i.e. assurances that a detainee to be transferred will continue to be detained in the country of destination even in the absence of a legal basis therefore. The fourth part of the report discusses concerns of the Working Group which have arisen primarily in the context of its recent country visits. These include: − Insufficiency of resources allocated to the penitentiary system and the resulting failure to protect prisoners’ rights; − Excessive recourse to and duration of pretrial detention; − Infringements of the right to an effective defence caused by conditions of detention and insufficient funding of legal aid programmes. On the basis of the matters discussed, the Working Group makes recommendations aimed at both preventing arbitrary detention in the context of the international transfer of detainees and reducing the duration of remand detention.