Chapter 2
Imprisonment as Suppression
Arbitrary Arrests and Administrative Detention
Legal Framework
The practice of arbitrary arrest is explicitly prohibited by Article 9 of the UDHR,
which maintains that “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention
or exile.” According to the Human Rights Committee, Article 9(1) establishes
that an arrest is considered to be arbitrary when it “include[s] elements of
inappropriateness, injustice, lack of predictability and due process of law.”169
The term arbitrary arrest is also used to describe any detentions that fail to
be reasonable and necessary in all circumstances.170 Further declarations of
the illegality of arbitrary arrests have been set down by Article 9(1) of the
ICCPR affirming the right to not be subject to arbitrary arrest or detention
and the right to a trial, and by Article 5(1) of the European Convention on
Human Rights.
With regard to administrative detention, one of the most universally accepted
definitions in international law is, “[d]etention is considered administrative
detention if, de jure and/or de facto, it has been ordered by the executive and
the power of the decision rests solely with the administrative or ministerial
authority.”171 In other words, it is a form of detention that is carried out
without trial or even formal charge. Administrative detention is covered by
169 UN Human Rights Committee, Views Under Article 5, Paragraph 4 Of The Optional Protocol To The
ICCPR, Thirty-ninth Session concerning Communication No. 305/1988, 15 August 1990
170 OHCHR, Human Rights in the Administration of Justice: A Manual on Human Rights for Judges,
Prosecutors and Lawyers, Chapter 5, 2002. Available at: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/
Publications/training9chapter5en.pdf
171 UN Rapporteur of the Sub-Commission on the Fight against Discriminatory Measures and Protection
of Minorities Louis Joinet, Report on the Practice of Administrative Detention, E/CN.4/sub.2/1989/27,
1989, para. 17
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