OTHMAN (ABU QATADA) v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT 45 VI. RELEVANT NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL CASE-LAW AND COMMENTARY ON ASSURANCES 141. In addition to the commentary on assurances which was summarised in Ismoilov and Others v. Russia, no. 2947/06, §§ 96-100, 24 April 2008, the parties have provided the following materials. A. Reports and other international commentary 142. In its 2006 concluding observations on the United States of America, the UN Committee against Torture recommended that diplomatic assurances should only be relied upon in regard to States which do not systematically violate UNCAT’s provisions, and after a thorough examination of the merits of each individual case. It recommended clear procedures for obtaining assurances, with adequate judicial mechanisms for review, and effective post-return monitoring arrangements. 143. In a February 2006 address to the Council of Europe Group of Specialists on Human Rights and the Fight against Terrorism (DH-S-TER), Louise Arbour, then United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights stated: “Based on the long experience of international monitoring bodies and experts, it is unlikely that a post-return monitoring mechanism set up explicitly to prevent torture and ill-treatment in a specific case would have the desired effect. These practices often occur in secret, with the perpetrators skilled at keeping such abuses from detection. The victims, fearing reprisal, often are reluctant to speak about their suffering, or are not believed if they do.” 144. In his “viewpoint” of 27 June 2006, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, stated that diplomatic assurances were pledges which were not credible and had turned out to be ineffective in well-documented cases. His view was that the principle of non-refoulement should not be undermined by convenient, non-binding promises. 145. Concerns as to the United Kingdom’s Government’s policy of seeking assurances have also been expressed by the United Kingdom Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights (in its report of 18 May 2006) and the House of Commons Select Committee on Foreign Affairs (in its report of 20 July 2008). 146. Human Rights Watch has strongly criticised the use of assurances. In an essay in its 2008 World Report entitled “Mind the Gap Diplomatic Assurances and the Erosion of the Global Ban on Torture”, it argued that the problem with assurances lay in the nature of torture itself, which was practised in secret using techniques that often defied detection. The essay also considered the arrangements between in the United Kingdom and Jordan. It characterised Adaleh as a small NGO and questioned whether,