E/CN.4/2000/4/Add.2 page 22 90. The Group would like to clarify the scope of its criticisms. In their quasi-totality, situations of arbitrary detention listed in the present report have three causes: (a) The majority of the situations are the responsibility of the former regime. This underlines the necessity and urgency of intensifying, without any discrimination, the policy of releasing prisoners initiated by President Habibie. (b) Other situations result from deficiencies in the legislation itself (for example, the absence of a legal obligation to present an arrested person promptly before a judicial authority). This underlines the urgent need to revise several provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure and to abrogate the existing emergency laws and measures. (c) The third cause of arbitrary detention arises not from deficiencies in the law (since on many points, such as presumption of innocence, adversarial proceedings, habeas corpus, etc., the criminal procedure is satisfactory), but from deficiencies of the authorities and judicial officers who must apply the law, be they police officers, prosecutors, judges or even lawyers. Such deficiencies may relate to routine matters (lack of notification of prolongation of detention) or to serious breaches of professional ethics or of the duty of impartiality (for example, corruption). This underlines the importance of education in this area and the necessity for exemplary and severe sanctions, which should be administered in all proven cases. 91. The new Government has initiated negotiations, under the auspices of the United Nations, with a view to finding a solution to the problems of East Timor. This process is in full development. Although numerous political prisoners have been released, repressive measures continue, notably in the so-called Critical Control Areas, or by virtue of the “re-education” of opponents of the regime which, as mentioned above, must be characterized as arbitrary detention. The new penitentiary regime accorded to Xanana Gusmao and his recognition as a legitimate representative of a significant sector of the East Timorese people is a promising indicator of the Government's desire to find an equitable solution to the problems of East Timor. 92. The visit of the Working Group to East Timor was disillusioning in as far as the working conditions of the local non-governmental organizations are concerned, which often do not even allow them to transmit reliable and corroborated information. It is worth recalling that they work in particularly difficult circumstances. The explanation is simple: human rights organizations in East Timor operate in a climate of threats and repression such that they find it almost impossible to verify many data. The following comments made to the Group are illustrative: “the families of detainees do not wish to give us their information, out of fear”; “we do not leave the country out of fear that we might be denied the right to return, or that we might face reprisals upon return”; “we do not know the mechanisms of the Commission on Human Rights, and would like to know more about them”; “we need technical assistance”; “when we write to the military, we do not receive written replies and oral replies always attribute responsibility to the guerrilla”. NGOs work in inadequate offices, with difficult access to modern