Seeking Remedies for Torture Victims: A Handbook on the Individual Complaints Procedures of the UN Tready Bodies The Working Group is able to receive the complaint from a concerned party, including the victims themselves, their families, their representative or human rights NGOs.489 It is also able to take up communications at its own initiative.490 The Working Group forwards a copy of the communication to the State concerned, and requests a response within 60 days.491 The government’s response is then forwarded to the complainant. Where the Working Group receives no response after 60 days, it will consider the complaint based on the information received. It may decide that the detention is arbitrary (even if the person has since been released), and will then deliver an opinion to that effect and make recommendations to the government to remedy the situation. It may otherwise determine that the particular detention was not arbitrary, or that more information is required and the case should remain pending until the information is received. It will notify the government of its opinion and two weeks later will also notify the author.492 Opinions of the Working Group are published in its annual reports, and therefore brought to the attention of the Human Rights Council. In addition, in November 2011, the Working Group launched a database which is a freely and publicly available compilation of its opinions.493 It is accessible at: www.unwgaddatabase.org The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention requests that, where possible, communications are submitted in the format of its model questionnaire, available at: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Detention/ WGADQuestionnaire_en.pdf. ii. Deliberations The Working Group also produces deliberations, “on matters of a general nature involving a position of principle in order to develop a consistent set of precedents and assist States, for purposes of prevention, to guard against the practice of arbitrary deprivation of liberty”.494 Deliberations of the Working Group have included 489 OHCHR, Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, “Individual Complaints, Urgent Appeals, Deliberations”, available at: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Detention/Pages/Complaints.aspx. 490 Human Rights Commission, Resolution 1993/36, para. 4. 491 Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Revised Working Methods , (2011) UN Doc. A/ HRC/16/47, Annex, Part IV. This time limit may be extended by one month at the request of the government involved. 492 Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Revised Working Methods, (2011) UN Doc. A/HRC/16/47, Annex, Part IV. 493 When it was launched, the database provided over 600 opinions in English, French and Spanish that had been adopted since the establishment of the Working Group in 1991; see Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Annual Report, (2013) UN Doc. A/HRC/22/44, p. 4. 494 UN Fact Sheet No. 26, “The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention”, Part V, available at: http://www. ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/FactSheet26en.pdf. 150