E/CN.4/1995/34/Add.1 page 5 the new game whose rules have not yet been sufficiently defined in law. Indeed, some cases have been plausibly alleged to reflect an abuse of the law by official agencies and public enterprises to resist competition from or to renege on deals with new private enterprises. In addition, there has been a rash of petty crime, usually involving various kinds of theft on the streets and in public places. This has led to a perceived sense of personal insecurity and an apparent demand for more effective law and order measures, with the accent being as much, if not more, on order rather than law. An example of how this has translated into political action is the recent Presidential Decree No. 1226 which has extended the maximum period of temporary detention (i.e. before formal remand) from 10 days to 30 days in respect of persons suspected of involvement in serious organized crime and banditry. 10. The Russian Federation has ratified most of the principal international conventions on human rights. It is a party to the following instruments, inter alia: International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Optional Protocol thereto; International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It also has accepted the individual communications procedures under article 14 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and article 22 of the Convention against Torture. 11. The meetings held in Moscow and St. Petersburg and the visits undertaken are described in section I of the present report. Section II describes the initial phase of detention when an individual is first taken into custody by the police. It should be noted that this initial detention does not constitute an arrest under Russian law; the arrest occurs only when a representative of the Office of the Procurator formally decides to bring criminal charges against the individual. Section III describes the phase of preliminary detention in which an individual is held in an isolator of temporary detention, which is referred to by the Russian acronym IVS. Section IV describes the phase of remand detention in which an individual is held in a sizo (sledstvennyi izolyator, or investigatory isolator, i.e. a remand centre for confining those awaiting trial and sentencing or appeal.) Section V describes the Correctional Colonies that the Special Rapporteur had an opportunity to visit in St. Petersburg. Section VI contains the Special Rapporteur’s conclusions and recommendations. I. MEETINGS AND VISITS IN MOSCOW AND ST. PETERSBURG 12. In Moscow, the Special Rapporteur had two meetings with the head of the Directorate of International Humanitarian Cooperation and Human Rights, Mr. Viacheslav Bakhmin. He held discussions with the Director of the International Legal Department of the Ministry of Justice, Mr. Valentin Kruzhkov; the Chairman of the Committee on Legislation and Judicial Reforms of the State Duma, Mr.Vladimir Isakov; the Chairman of the Committee on Violations in Prison Lock-ups and Pre-trial Detention Centres, Mr. Oleg Mironov; the First Deputy Head of the Department of Corrections, Mr. Valery Orlov; the Chairman of the Presidential Commission on Human Rights,