A/HRC/21/50 Arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance17 D. 63. The commission interviewed 25 people who alleged to have been arbitrarily arrested and unlawfully detained. A further five interviews were conducted with defectors claiming to have observed arbitrary arrests and detentions while in active service. 64. According to the Government, more than 10,000 people have been released since February 2011, pursuant to 4 amnesties, including 275 people released on 10 July 2012. In his report on the implementation of Security Council resolution 2043 (2012) (S/2012/523), the Secretary-General noted that UNSMIS had observed the release of 468 detainees in Dar‘a, Damascus, Hama, Idlib and Deir el-Zour on 31 May and 14 June 2012. 65. Official statistics on the number of detainees and detention centres have yet to be provided by the Government. As at 25 June, UNSMIS had received and cross-checked information on 2,185 detainees and 97 places of detention across the country. Syrian nongovernmental organizations put the number of those currently detained as high as 26,000. The commission was unable to confirm the number of those arrested and detained. 66. Most arrests were made in four situations: those believed to be planning to defect or who had refused to follow orders (usually to open fire on civilians); during house searches; at checkpoints; and protesters, either at or subsequent to protests. In a few cases, people were arrested randomly in areas where there were no active hostilities. Four of those so reported were women. Two were children, a boy of 14 and a girl of 9. 67. No interviewee was offered or received legal counsel. With one exception, no interviewee received a family visit. Only two interviewees, arrested on suspicion of planning to defect, were formally charged with an offence. 68. Many claimed that, prior to release, they were made to sign or thumbprint a document, the contents of which were unknown to them. Three detainees were brought before a judge and then released. In one unverified incident, the interviewee stated that, although the judge had ordered his release, he had remained in detention for another 3 months. Also interviewed was a former judge who stated that security agents prohibited questioning unless they were present and, on one occasion, held the judge at gunpoint. 69. The duration of detention of interviewees ranged from a few hours to 5 months. Most of those interviewed were held for 60 days or fewer. 70. The commission considers that domestic legislation in the Syrian Arab Republic (see annex II) fails to meet its obligations under article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to ensure that those arrested and detained on criminal charges appear ―promptly before a judge or other officer authorized by law to exercise judicial power‖. 71. There are reasonable grounds to believe that Government forces arbitrarily arrested and detained individuals. Of particular concern are the detention of individuals without charge, the failure to provide detainees with legal counsel or family visits and the absence in most cases of any form of judicial review. 72. Regarding enforced disappearance, families of those arrested were not informed at the time of arrest or at any point thereafter of the place of detention of their relatives. In most cases, families were unaware of their relatives‘ place of detention. 17 14 See also annex VII.