E/CN.4/1990/17/Add.l page 8 32. The Special Rapporteur was also informed on that occasion that it may happen that if a person was suspected of offences against State security, the 48-hour rule was not always complied with. In such cases, a report had to be presented to the Minister who decided whether the suspect should be kept for a longer period. Also in such cases, the President of the Judicial Council was informed and through him the office of the Public Prosecutor. There again it remained unclear what the legal basis for this procedure was; obviously, it was not in conformity with the normal rules since the office of the Public Prosecutor was not in a position to evaluate the grounds for the arrest; it also remained unclear whether the suspect had to be presented to a judge within five days after the arrest in persona. On the other hand, the agreement between DDLC and the Department for Internal Security explicitly states that the legal terms for detention must be respected and that the arrested person must be presented to the judge who has to decide on the legality of his detention. II. EVALUATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 33. As stated before, the human rights situation in Zaire has considerably improved during the recent years. The Government has taken some meaningful steps to strengthen the existing mechanisms guaranteeing the respect of human rights by introducing new ones. The. creation of a separate Department of Rights and Freedoms of the Citizen is, in itself, quite unique and has undoubtedly contributed to a greater awareness of the importance of human rights both with the population and with the authorities. The Department has only been operational for two and a half years and to a certain extent is still in the formation period; it is therefore too early to give a conclusive evaluation of its efficiency. Informing the people about their rights by the dissemination of material which is understandable to everyone is one of the most important requisites for the rule of law. The President of the Bar Association told the Special Rapporteur that although detained persons were entitled to legal assistance as from the moment of their arrest, in actual practice, and due to lack of information, people hardly ever resorted to a lawyer until the moment their case came before a court. Nor was it generally known that a person who did not have the necessary means to employ a lawyer could address the judge or the President of the Bar Association who then had to ask the Bar to designate a lawyer. 34. It is equally important to inform the law-enforcing authorities about the detainee's rights and to instruct them to respect the detainee's inherent dignity. The introduction of training courses for the personnel of the law-enforcement forces is, therefore, of great significance. Such courses should not only be -focused on mentality training but also on the teaching of how to conduct interrogations in a manner which recognizes and respects the detainee's rights and dignity. 35. The competence "of the Department of Rights and Freedoms of the Citizen to visit and inspect all places of detention concurrently with the legally prescribed periodic visits by magistrates of the Public Prosecutor's office may be an effective preventive measure against illegal arrests and detention. These, in turn, may - and in fact often did in the past - lead to torture and maltreatment. The Special Rapporteur was informed that in all cases when a detainee was not duly registered with the Public Prosecutor's office, the Department could have him released immediately. He was also informed that in all other cases where the legal provisions had seemingly not been complied