A/HRC/4/33/Add.2 Page 129 729. Recommendation (v) stated: The Government is invited to make the declaration provided for in article 22 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment recognizing the competence of the Committee against Torture to receive and consider communications from individuals who claim to be victims of a violation of the provisions of the Convention, as well as to ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention, whereby a body shall be set up to undertake regular visits to all places of detention in the country in order to prevent torture. It should also invite the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Special Representative of the SecretaryGeneral on human rights defenders as well as the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers to carry out visits to the country. 730. According to information received from non-governmental sources, Uzbekistan has not yet recognized the competence of the Committee against Torture to consider individual communications according to article 22 CAT, nor did it accede to the Optional Protocol to CAT. Uzbekistan has not extended an invitation to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on human rights defenders, or the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers to carry out visits to the country. On 19 May 2006, the Special Rapporteur on Torture has requested an invitation for a follow-up mission to Uzbekistan, for which no response has yet been received. 731. The Government informed that an inter-agency working group created to study the situation of the respect of human rights by law enforcement organs under the Ministry of Justice is currently elaborating suggestions on the implementation of point 22.1 of the Government’s Action Plan for the Implementation of the United Nations Convention Against Torture, and studying the practice of presenting reports to the United Nations Committee Against Torture (point 22.2 of the Action Plan). Uzbekistan is cooperating with the United Nations Special Procedures in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the Commission on Human Rights/Human Rights Council. It is a sign of its good will that the Government regularly provides exhaustive information about the human rights situation and responses to the mandate holders’ queries. Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) Seguimiento dado a las recomendaciones del Relator Especial reflejadas en su informe sobre su visita a la República Bolivariana de Venezuela en junio de 1996 (E/CN.4/1997/7/Add.3, párr. 85). 732. Por carta con fecha 11 de octubre de 2006, el Gobierno proporcionó la siguiente información sobre el estado actual de la implementación de las recomendaciones del Relator Especial. 733. El Relator Especial observa con satisfaccción que actualmente el plazo para que un detenido comparezca ante el juez es de 12 a 24 horas. Igualmente se acoge con beneplácito la presencia de una serie de garantias para el detenido, tales como el derecho a comunicarse de inmediato con su abogado y sus familiares, el examen médico que se le practica a las 24 horas siguientes al ingreso en el centro de detención o prisión, así como el establecimiento de la detención preventiva como una medida de carácter excepcional. Sin embargo, el Relator Especial menciona que la información proporcionada por el Gobierno con relación a las