83 Part 3 Examples of such violations include torture and other forms of ill-treatment, denial of medical attention, and violation of procedural rights. 8283 • Incommunicado detention involves the deprivation of a person’s liberty by state authorities acting in their official capacity, or persons acting under the order or with the consent of the state, where the person is not permitted any contact with the outside world, including with family, friends, independent lawyers and doctors. • Secret detention is the situation in which a person is held in incommunicado detention and where the detaining or otherwise competent authority denies the detention, refuses to reveal information on the fact that the person is deprived of his or her liberty and hidden from the outside world, or refuses to provide information about the fate or whereabouts of the detainee. Secret detention does not necessarily take place in an unofficial place of detention. • Extraordinary rendition is the transfer – without legal process – of a detainee to the custody of a foreign state for the purposes of detention and interrogation.82 Such practices may facilitate the perpetration of torture and other forms of ill-treatment, and may in themselves constitute such treatment. The suffering caused to family members of a secretly detained person may also amount to torture or a form of ill-treatment and, at the same time, violates the right to private and family life. Secret detention constitutes an enforced disappearance and, if widely or systematically practiced, it may even amount to a crime against humanity.83 International bodies have strongly condemned these practices.84 Preventive detention of terrorism suspects raises concerns about the arbitrary nature of such measures and their impact on human rights. Such measures should remain exceptional and comply with international human 82 83 The full definitions of ‘Incommunicado detention’, ‘Secret detention’ and ‘Extraordinary rendition’ are included in the glossary of this manual. “Joint Study on global practices in relation to secret detention in the context of countering terrorism”, op. cit., note 6, para. 30. See also HRC, General Comment No. 20, Article 7: Prohibition of torture, or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, 3 November 1992, para. 11, <http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/gencomm/hrcom20.htm>; and United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Sir Nigel Rodley, Report to the General Assembly, 3 July 2001, A/56/156, para. 39(d), <http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=A/56/156>.