ESSEX PAPER 3: INITIAL GUIDANCE ON THE INTERPRETATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UN NELSON MANDELA RULES
on the facilitation of contact to the outside world and contact with consular representatives in
Recommendations 22.1. to 25.4.)
Consideration should be given, where possible, to providing teleconferencing facilities so foreign
national prisoners can maintain contact with their families.211
Diplomatic and consular representation
Foreign individuals deprived of their liberty are entitled to have consular authorities of their State
or origin notified ‘without delay’ of the fact and place of their detention and/or that of questioning if
they so request.212
The International Court of Justice has clarified that ‘without delay’ does not necessarily mean
‘immediately’ upon arrest, but that ‘there is nonetheless a duty upon the arresting authorities to
give that information to an arrested person as soon as it is realized that the person is a foreign
national, or once there are grounds to think that the person is probably a foreign national’.213
It was noted that prisoners need to be consulted prior to making contact with the diplomatic or
consular representation of the prisoners’ country of citizenship, as they are entitled to waive this
right and may in fact fear persecution from this state in some cases. In this instance, Rule 62(2)
points to national and international agencies established to protect or assist refugees or stateless
persons, such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Technical Guidance for Prison Planning, p. 126.
211
UN Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, Principle 16(2);
Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, Article 36(1)(b); Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions,
Minimum Interrogation Standards, 2005, para. 2.
212
International Court of Justice, Case concerning Avena and other Mexican nationals (Mexico v. United States of
America), para. 87-88.
213
Penal Reform International and the Essex Human Rights Centre
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