E/CN.4/2006/6 page 7 13. On 7 November 2005, the Special Rapporteur attended a meeting of the Terrorist Prevention Branch, Division of Treaty Affairs, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Vienna. He presented an overview of the mandate, and the participants discussed issues of common interest and explored possible areas for future cooperation. 14. On 10 November 2005, the Special Rapporteur was received by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) in Strasbourg, France. Views were exchanged in relation to the prohibition of torture in the context of counter-terrorism measures, particularly with respect to diplomatic assurances and secret places of detention. Promoting ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), and exploring mutual cooperation and coordination, such as in relation to preparation and follow-up to country visits, was also discussed. On the same day, the Special Rapporteur met with the European Commissioner for Human Rights. The Special Rapporteur also met with the Secretariat of the Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee of Human Rights and Legal Affairs, Council of Europe. He was informed that in reaction to his request for a Council of Europe investigation into alleged secret places of detention in Europe of the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency, the Committee called upon the Council’s Secretary-General to investigate these allegations. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the appointment of an investigator and the launch of an investigation on 21 November 2005; he also welcomes the fact that the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe made use of his powers under article 52 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to request all Council of Europe member States to report on the question of alleged secret CIA places of detention in Europe. 15. On 18 November 2005, in London, the Special Rapporteur, together with the Special Rapporteur on the right to health, conducted interviews with a number of former detainees in order to gather information for the joint report of the experts of the Commission on Human Rights concerning the human rights situation of detainees held at the United States Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay. 16. On 7 December 2005, the Special Rapporteur participated in a discussion on the development of guidelines for diplomatic assurances in the Group of Specialists on Human Rights and the Fight against Terrorism, Steering Committee for Human Rights, Council of Europe (see paragraph 30 below). 17. On 9 December 2005, on the eve of Human Rights Day, the Special Rapporteur, together with 32 human rights experts of the United Nations, issued a statement on the absolute prohibition against torture. The experts expressed: “… alarm at attempts by many States to circumvent provisions of international human rights law by giving new names to old practices. Whereas international instruments stress that human rights are at the foundation of any democratic society, more and more frequently they are portrayed as an obstacle to government efforts to guarantee security. This trend is illustrated by debates on the absolute prohibition of torture: a ban that recently had seemed an undisputed cornerstone of human rights law, anchored in numerous international legal instruments, but also accepted as a principle of jus cogens. For this reason we would like to reaffirm that the very rationale of human rights is that they provide minimum standards that have to be respected by States at all times, in particular when new challenges arise.”