ESSEX PAPER 3: INITIAL GUIDANCE ON THE INTERPRETATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UN NELSON MANDELA RULES • promptly dealt with • replied to without delay; and there must be • availability of a remedy in case of rejection or undue delay (‘can be brought before judicial or other authority if rejected or in case of undue delay’).467 The Essex group listed the following established requirements of effectiveness for complaints mechanisms:468 1. sufficient detachment from the authority alleged of wrongdoing (independence)469 2. fairness and perceived fairness 3. promptness of enquiry into complaint (‘without undue delay’470) 4. confidentiality – if requested471 5. complaint mechanism needs power to enquire 6. facilitates simple, prompt and effective recourse472 7. safety from reprisals.473 Effective mechanisms should seek to proactively address circumstances that discourage prisoners from issuing complaints.474 The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture has emphasised that complainants may require access to independent lawyers and timely independent medical As required by Principle 33(4) of the UN Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment: ‘If the request or complaint is rejected or, in case of inordinate delay, the complainant shall be entitled to bring it before a judicial or other authority’. 467  The principles draw on the Special Rapporteur on Torture report 2013, A/68/295. 468  Special Rapporteur on Torture report 2013, A/68/295, para. 77. 469  Principle 33(4) of the UN Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment. 470  With regard to confidentiality, the experts referred to language included in the UN Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment (Principle 33 (3) calls for confidentiality ‘if so requested by the complainant’), the Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Istanbul Protocol), the Bangkok Rules (Rule 57 (2), see also Rule 25(1)) and Article 21 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT). See also CAT SMR revision observations, CAT/C/51/4, para. 54. 471  Principle VII of the Principles and Best Practices on the Protection of Persons Deprived of Liberty in the Americas emphasises the importance of a ‘simple, prompt, and effective recourse’. 472  Principle 33(4) of the UN Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment: ‘(…) Neither the detained or imprisoned person nor any complainant under paragraph 1 of the present principle shall suffer prejudice for making a request or complaint’. Rule 25(1) of the Bangkok Rules also requires protection measures specifically relating to the risk of retaliation (see also Rule 57(2) of the Bangkok Rules). Article 21 (1) of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture states: ‘No authority or official shall order, apply, permit or tolerate any sanction against any person or organization for having communicated to the national preventive mechanism any information, whether true or false, and no such person or organization shall be otherwise prejudiced in any way’. 473  The SPT, for example, documented the lack of awareness of the possibility to submit a complaint, but also the lack of trust that a complaint would lead to any positive or useful outcome, or that it would lead to reprisals against them (Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Report on the visit of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment to Ukraine, 16 March 2016, CAT/OP/UKR/1, para. 53 (SPT Report on visit to Ukraine)). See also SPT Report on visit to Brazil, para. 32; and Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Report on the visit of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment to Argentina, 27 November 2013, CAT/OP/ARG/1, para. 75 (SPT Report on visit to Argentina). 474  Penal Reform International and the Essex Human Rights Centre | 117