MONITORING PLACES OF DETENTION : A PRACTICAL GUIDE 45 Mandate and powers regarding visits: ■ Access to all information regarding the number of persons deprived of liberty, their treatment and conditions of detention; ■ Access to all places of detention and all facilities. In exceptional circumstances, it is possible for a State to temporarily postpone access to a place for urgent reasons such as the protection of national defence, public safety, national disasters or serious disorder in the place to be visited; ■ Opportunity to have interviews in private; ■ Liberty to choose the places to be visited and the persons to interview; ■ In addition, there is a provision to protect people in contact with the Sub-Committee or the national preventive mechanism from any retaliation/sanction (art. 15). After the visit, the Sub-Committee provides a confidential report containing recommendations, which is transmitted to the States Parties, and if relevant, also sent to the national preventive mechanism. The report is confidential but States can authorise its publication. Recommendations are not binding but the States have an obligation to examine them and enter into dialogue on implementation measures. The OPCAT also foresees the establishment of a special voluntary fund for supporting implementation of the recommendations. If States refuse to co-operate, then the Sub-Committee can propose to the UN Committee against Torture to adopt a public statement or to publish the report.