A REGIONAL TOOLKIT FOR PRACTITIONERS 1 29 Article 11 CAT provides that state parties to the Convention must Review interrogation rules, instructions, methods and practices as well as arrangements for the custody and treatment of persons subjected to any form of arrest, detention or imprisonment in any territory under its jurisdiction, with a view to preventing any cases of torture155 Article 4(1) of the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture requires state parties to the Optional Protocol to allow visits to detention facilities or any place where individuals deprived of liberty are held in order to ensure the protection of detainees against torture or any other form of inhuman or degrading treatment while they are detained.156 Article 14(1) (b) of the Protocol requires state parties to grant the sub-Committee on prevention of torture “unrestricted access to all information referring to the treatment of those persons as well as their conditions of detention.”157 Article 19, which addresses the national preventive mechanisms, requires states to examine the treatment of detainees regularly, in order to strengthen their protection against torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.158 The UN General Assembly’s Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment provides some guidelines with respect to conditions of detention. Principle 6 states that no detained person “shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” and such treatment is not justified under any circumstance. Principle 8 provides that “persons in detention shall be subject to treatment appropriate to their un-convicted status”159 and thus should be kept separate from convicted persons. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention mentioned in its 2014 report that where detention is necessary, it “should take place in appropriate, sanitary, non-punitive facilities, and should not take place in prisons.”160 The UNHCR Guidelines on Applicable Criteria and Standards relating to the Detention of Asylum-Seekers requires that the “conditions of detention for asylum-seekers should be humane with respect shown for the inherent dignity of the person”161 and should be prescribed by the law. The OHCHR’s Administrative Detention of Migrants expresses concern for the fact that special holding centres for the detention of migrants have often been crowded, which has contributed to the deterioration of the individuals’ health. They are often held in poor hygienic conditions, have no access to medical treatment and other services, among others.162 According to a UNHCR, IDC and Association for the Prevention of Torture Manual titled Monitoring Immigration Detention, any detained individual is at risk of torture or other forms of ill-treatment. Poor conditions of detention – including solitary confinement – can amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Visits are key in the monitoring process as well as the process of improving the treatment of detainees and the conditions they are being held in. Thus, monitoring groups need to be able to assess the conditions of detention and treatment of detainees.163 Council of Europe Article 3 ECHR provides that “No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”164 In MSS v Belgium and Greece, the ECtHR stated that Article 3 ECHR “requires the State to ensure that detention conditions are compatible with respect for human dignity,” detention should not subject detainees to “distress or hardship of an intensity exceeding the unavoidable level of suffering inherent in detention” and that “their health and well-being are adequately secured.”165 The Court found that “the feeling of arbitrariness and the feeling of inferiority and anxiety” associated with detention, and the “profound effect such conditions of detention indubitably have on a person’s dignity”166 constitute degrading treatment, in violation of Article 3 ECHR. In A and Others v United Kingdom, the ECtHR established that when a person is detained, the state must “ensure that he is detained under conditions which are compatible with respect for his human dignity” and that he is not subjected to “distress or hardship exceeding the unavoidable level of suffering inherent in detention”167 In Mikolenko v Estonia, the ECtHR found that for detention not to be deemed arbitrary, certain conditions must be met, one of which is that “the place and conditions of detention should be appropriate.”168 The European Committee for the Prevention of torture, in its Standards, has made it clear that while detainees may have to spend time detained in police facilities, such places may be inadequate for lengthy periods of detention, and therefore the time detainees spend in such places should be minimal.169 European Union Article 16(1) EU Returns Directive states that detention must take place in specialised detention facilities, and if a state cannot provide specialised detention facilities and must keep detainees with convicted persons, they must be kept separately (ex. in different holding cells). Article 16(2) of the EU Returns Directive states that detainees must be allowed “contact with legal representatives, family members and competent consular authorities.” Article 16(3) of the Directive provides that attention should be paid to vulnerable persons, and emergency health care should be provided for those held in detention. Article 16(4) of the Directive requires that “competent national, international and nongovernmental organisations and bodies shall have the possibility to visit detention facilities” and Article 16(5) of the Directive requires that detainees must be provided with information which explains to them the rules applied in the facility and establishes their rights and obligations.170 Other resources The International Commission of Jurists, in its Handbook for preventing unnecessary immigration detention, states that the