E/CN.4/2003/68 page 4 (e) Submitting annual reports on his activities and mandate, as well as his conclusions and recommendations, to the Commission on Human Rights and the General Assembly. 4. The Special Rapporteur would like to provide details concerning these activities with a view to facilitating cooperation and an exchange of views on issues falling within his mandate with all interested parties. Sources of information 5. With respect to the credibility and reliability of the information that comes before him, the Special Rapporteur takes into account a number of factors, any one of which may be sufficient, though generally more than one will be present. These factors include: (a) the established previous reliability of the source of information; (b) the internal consistency of the information; (c) the precision of the factual details included in the information; (d) the consistency of the information as compared with information on other cases from the country in question that has previously come to his attention; (e) the existence of authoritative reports of torture practices from national sources, such as official commissions of inquiry and national commissions on human rights/ombudsperson’s offices; and (f) the findings of other international bodies, such as United Nations country rapporteurs and representatives, human rights treaty-monitoring bodies and regional human rights bodies. The Special Rapporteur may also rely on assessments made by professionals of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) as well as of other United Nations agencies. With respect to information pertaining to individual cases, it should be noted that a number of basic requirements must be contained in the information submitted to him, such as the identity of the alleged victims, the date and place of the incident, a description of the alleged perpetrators and of the situation, and the identity of the source of information. It should be stressed that the last element will remain confidential. Urgent appeals 6. With respect to the “urgent appeal” procedure, the Special Rapporteur would like to acknowledge that his work has now been considerably facilitated by the creation within OHCHR of a Quick Response Desk which allows information to be processed in a more timely and consistent manner and also facilitates the sending of joint appeals with other special procedures of the Commission. 7. These appeals serve urgent humanitarian purposes in their request for clarification and relief. The urgent appeal procedure is not per se accusatory, but rather essentially preventive in nature and purpose. The Government concerned is requested to look into the matter and to take steps aimed at protecting the right to physical and mental integrity of the person concerned, in accordance with the international human rights standards. 8. The circumstances that lead to urgent appeals are diverse, but they have in common that they indicate, on the basis of information of the sort mentioned in paragraph 3 (a) above, that an identifiable risk of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment exists. Such circumstances include incommunicado detention, prolonged solitary confinement, use of