A/HRC/33/50 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 11 July 2016 Original: English Human Rights Council Thirty-third session Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Note by the Secretariat During the period from 1 January to 31 December 2015, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, under its regular procedure, adopted 56 opinions concerning the detention of 91 persons in 37 countries. It also transmitted 83 urgent appeals to 42 Governments concerning 241 individuals, as well as 12 letters of allegations to 11 Governments. States informed the Working Group that they had taken measures to remedy the situation of detainees and in some cases detainees were released. The Working Group is grateful to those Governments that heeded its appeals and that took steps to provide it with the requested information on the situation of detainees. The Working Group engaged in continuous dialogue with countries that it visited, in particular in respect of its recommendations. In 2015, the Working Group undertook a follow-up visit to Malta. The report on the visit is contained in an addendum to the present report (A/HRC/33/50/Add.1). * Reissued for technical reasons on 9 September 2016. GE.16-11814(E)  *