E/CN.4/2004/56 page 5 Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a joint statement (see A/58/120, annex I). It encouraged States to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and to set up national mechanisms allowing visits to places of detention. 12. On the same day, the Special Rapporteur participated in the launch of a handbook by Amnesty International entitled “Combating torture: A manual for action”.5 The Special Rapporteur welcomes the handbook and considers it an invaluable tool for advocacy and action against torture. 13. On 30 June 2003, the Special Rapporteur attended a day of discussion on HIV/AIDS and human rights jointly organized by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). The objective of this meeting, addressed to mandate-holders of special procedures of the Commission on Human Rights, was the development of a strategic approach to the integration of HIV/AIDS-related issues into their work. The Executive Director of UNAIDS and the Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights also participated in this meeting. Some preliminary considerations concerning HIV/AIDS in relation to torture are presented in chapter IV of the present report. 14. On 4, 5 and 6 August 2003, the Special Rapporteur met with Alejandro Salinas and M. Cherif Bassiouni with a view to preparing a revised version of the “Basic principles and guidelines on the right to a remedy and reparation for victims of violations of international human rights and humanitarian law”, as requested in Commission on Human Rights resolution 2003/34. A second consultative meeting was held from 20 to 24 October 2003, during which the revised version of the Basic principles was reviewed by Governments, intergovernmental organizations and NGOs (see E/CN.4/2004/57). 15. On 23 and 24 October 2003, the Special Rapporteur participated in a conference organized by the International Commission of Jurists6 on the theme “Human rights and counter-terrorism: international monitoring systems”. In his intervention the Special Rapporteur noted with concern that there was trend in some sectors to erode the universal consensus on the prohibition of torture and the absolute nature of this prohibition. He stressed that torture and other forms of ill-treatment cannot be derogated from under any circumstances. 16. On 11 November 2003, the Special Rapporteur presented his second report to the General Assembly (A/58/120) pursuant to Assembly resolution 57/200 (para. 31) and Commission on Human Rights resolution 2003/32 (para. 34). In his statement, he addressed the following issues: the absolute prohibition of torture; recent conclusions, recommendations and other findings issued by international and regional human rights monitoring bodies on the issue of the prohibition of torture and other forms of ill-treatment in the context of anti-terrorism measures; a summary of his preliminary study on the situation of trade in and production of equipment which is specifically designed to inflict torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment; a follow-up to the views on the issue of reparation for victims of torture submitted by his predecessor in his report to the General Assembly at its fifty-fifth session; and the question of the prevention of torture and other forms of ill-treatment in psychiatric institutions in the light of existing international norms, principles and guidelines.