A/HRC/16/75 imprisonment post-conviction, including the prevention of torture. Meeting participants also reviewed relevant experiences and resources with regard to training and professional development of the judiciary. 52. The discussions among the participants addressed a wide range of issues, with considerable attention paid to various elements of fair trial procedure in the light of the main element of general comment No. 32 of the Human Rights Committee on article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The discussion also touched on pretrial investigation, arrest procedure, issuance of warrants, judicial review and supervision of investigation, time limits for temporary detention, notification and communication with families, access to lawyers, the role of prosecutors vis-à-vis judges, the right not to be coerced into making self-incriminatory statements and confessions, the supervision of places of detention and separation of pretrial detainees from convicted prisoners, prison conditions, the protection needs of women prisoners, and children with women in detention, as well as judicial training and in-service professional development. The experts noted the safeguards provided in the State’s Constitution as well as the executive directives since passed as law, but also the considerable ambiguity and lack of clarity in their implementation. There was no official outcome or communiqué from the meeting. IV. Conclusion and recommendations 53. The present report highlights many areas of continuing concern for human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Secretary-General has been deeply troubled by reports of increasing cases of executions, amputations, arbitrary arrest and detention, unfair trials and the possible torture and ill-treatment of human rights activists, lawyers, journalists and opposition activists. 54. The Secretary-General encourages the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to address the concerns highlighted in the report and the specific calls to action found in previous resolutions adopted by the General Assembly and in the universal periodic review process. The Secretary-General notes the important and constructive role that human rights lawyers and activists play in protecting human rights, and encourages the Government to guarantee freedom of expression and assembly fully and to open up greater space for human rights lawyers and activists. 55. With regard to other concerns identified in the report, the Secretary-General notes that the authorities have taken some positive steps, for instance, to prevent stoning as a method of execution or to limit the application of the death penalty to juvenile offenders. The Secretary-General expresses concern, however, that these measures have not been systematically enforced and cases of this nature continue to arise. He encourages the Government to revise national laws, particularly the Penal Code and juvenile justice laws, to ensure compliance with international human rights standards and to prevent these applications of the death penalty and other punishments, which are prohibited under international law. 56. The Secretary-General welcomes the recent signing of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, and calls upon the Government to also ratify other international human rights treaties, in particular the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and to withdraw the reservations it made upon the signature and ratification of various human rights treaties, as recommended by the respective treaty bodies. 57. The Secretary-General welcomes the State’s recent efforts to update its periodic reporting to human rights treaty bodies. He encourages it to act upon the 16