legal time limits laid down for informing the Public Prosecutor ’ s Office and the judge of any arrest and for placing the person concerned at the disposal of the judicial authorities, which must be attested in writing. 68. The SPT further recommends that the necessary measures be taken to revise the criminal procedure legislation so as to eliminate situations of extreme vulnerability in the hours immediately following arrest. 2.Registering of detention as a safeguard against torture and ill-treatment 69.On the basis of the information derived from the corresponding registers and from interviews with police personnel, the SPT concludes that the detention register system as it exists at present is inadequate and does not allow for proper monitoring of the arrivals and departures of detainees nor of compliance with procedural safeguards. 70.All the police stations visited had an “events log”, in the form of a notebook with numbered pages in which the officer on duty records the different shifts, the location of patrols and the arrival and departure of staff and detainees, without distinction of the kind of information recorded. The content and level of detail of the annotations concerning the arrival and departure of detainees varies with the police station and even with the officer in charge, in most cases giving brief personal details of detainees and the hour and reason for their detention. In some instances, the arrest order is also included. While the notebooks are identical in all police stations, they were on two occasions found to have missing pages, spaces left blank or erasures. 71.None of the police stations visited has a register of complaints or a record of visits by the family, lawyers or monitoring bodies. None, with the exception of the Asunción Women’s Police Station, possesses a register of personal effects or an infirmary register. According to the information gained from interviews with the police and detainees, the latter are not given a medical examination on entry to the police station. 72.In 5 of the 10 police stations visited, the SPT met with detainees whose entry had not been registered. This was a cause of great concern to the SPT. 73.The SPT considers that proper recording of the deprivation of liberty is one of the fundamental safeguards against torture and illtreatment and a prerequisite for the effective exercise of the rights of due process, including the right to challenge the lawfulness of deprivation of liberty (habeas corpus) and the prompt appearance of a detained person before a judge. 74. In light of the foregoing, the SPT recommends: (a) Establishing a compulsory system for registering persons held in detention, in the form of a bound and paginated register, separate from the duty register, which should include the reasons for the deprivation of liberty, the exact time when the detention began, how long it lasted, who was responsible for its authorization and the identity of the law enforcement officials concerned, together with precise information on the place of detention and the hour at which the detainee first appeared before a judicial or other authority; (b) Recording cases in which detainees are subject to a medical examination, the identity of the doctor concerned and the results of the examination; (c) Registering complaints received, visits by family, lawyers and monitoring bodies and the personal effects of persons detained; (d) Training police personnel to use the register in an appropriate and consistent manner; (e) Ensuring close supervision of the register system by senior officers to ensure the systematic recording of all relevant information on the deprivation of liberty. 3.Information on the rights of detainees 75.For persons deprived of their liberty to exercise their rights effectively, they must first be informed of and understand those rights. If people are ignorant of their rights, their ability to exercise them effectively is seriously diminished. Providing persons deprived of their liberty with information on their rights represents a fundamental element in the prevention of torture and ill-treatment. In accordance with the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, any person shall, at the moment of arrest and at the commencement of detention or imprisonment, or promptly thereafter, be provided by the authority responsible for his arrest, detention or imprisonment, respectively with information on and an explanation of his rights and how to avail himself of such rights. 76.The SPT interviewed detainees who had not been informed about their rights. On the other hand, it was pleased to note that the police stations visited in Asunción had posters in Guaraní with information on the rights of detained persons. However, these posters were not available in Spanish, nor in the police stations visited outside Asunción. 77. The SPT recognizes this as a positive initiative and recommends that the State party produce posters, booklets and other outreach materials, in both official languages, with information on the rights of persons deprived of their liberty, expressed in clear and simple language. The posters should be placed in all places where persons deprived of their liberty are held, so as to be visible to them. The SPT likewise recommends that the police should be trained to inform detainees systematically of their rights in a language they can understand and that they should assist them in the exercise of those rights from the very start of their detention. This information should be assembled in a form, which should be handed to all persons detained and signed by them.