draft proviaionsr the authoritiea were considering the poS6fble forms of in that ro6pect. The (Lnbudsmanhad been seieed of a complaint that disablement was not expressly mentioned in the new provision on discrimination. discrimination 118. With reference to that issue, members of the Committee asked whether there were any plans by Finland to ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the Covenant, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty. In addition, member6 of the Committee wished to know whether there were any plans to establish a special medical ethics committee, within the National Board of Health, to advise in the matter of human embryo research and whether there was a la ,W or military code authori6ing the imposition of the death penalty in wartime 119. In his reply, the representative said that the Finnish Government intended to ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the Covenant in 1990. Reforms were being undertaken to regulate the use of artificial procreat i 011 methods and it was quite possible that a medical ethics and health law committee would be established. The death penalty had been totally abol i shed and therefore was eliminated, even in wartime. 120. With regard to that issue, members of the Committee wished to know what was the current status of the bill amending the Law on Military Disciplinary Procedure and the relevant Ordinance8 whether the proposal relating to reforming the CUStOdy arrangements under the Aliens Act had been followed’ upi what the plans were to develop the penitentiary system and penal sanctions discussed in paragraph 69 of the report; and what was the maximum limit to the period of preventive detention under the Dangerous Recidivists Act. 121. In addition, members of the Committee wished to know whether the recent decision to deny asylum to two Soviet hijackers was based on factual or legal considerations; why RIV infection and AIDS were not classified as contagious diseases; and whether a law existed providing for the solitary confinement of dangerous recidivists. Members wished to receive information on measures providing for incommunicado detention: penalties other than imprisonment) the powers of prison boards to hold an offender in preventive detention and the possibilities of appeal against their deCiSiOn6j the implementation of the Aliens Act; the possibilities of appeal against a decision of obligatory confinement under the Mental Health Actr and the reasons for the decrease in the prison population. Clarification was also requested of the reference to “violence” in paragraph 63 of the report and the implications of a person being considered a “health haeard”, 122. In his reply, the representative stated that the legislation under which a conscript could have a decision on military confinement examined by a court had come into force on 1 May 1990. A new bill had been submitted in April 1990 to reform custody arrangements under the Aliens Act. The bill, providing for a partial reform of the Young Offenders Act, had been ratified, and the Government WAS planning to introduce several other reform6 in the criminal justice system, It was also planned that a maximum limit would be imposed on the length of incarceration which, in practice, would mean that -3o-