PART 2: Procedures of the Human Rights Commitee and the Committee against Torture a) The Mandate of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention The mandate of the Working Group involves five central areas of operation: a. To investigate cases of detention imposed arbitrarily or otherwise inconsistently with relevant international standards set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or in the relevant international legal instruments accepted by the States concerned. b. To seek and receive information from Government and intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations, and receive information from the individuals concerned, their families or their representatives. c. To conduct field missions upon the invitation of Government, in order to understand better the situations prevailing in countries, as well as the underlying reasons for instances of arbitrary deprivation of liberty. d. To formulate deliberations on issues of a general nature in order to assist States to prevent and guard against the practice of arbitrary deprivation of liberty and to facilitate consideration of future cases. e. To present a comprehensive report to the Human Rights Council at its annual session.486 The Working Group’s Annual Reports include a summary of its activities, including decisions on Communications, reports on country visits, deliberations on issues relevant to arbitrary detention, and recommendations to States.487 b) Method of Operation i. Individual Complaints The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention is the only non-treaty-based mechanism whose mandate expressly provides for consideration of individual complaints. This means that any individual, from any State, regardless of which treaties it has ratified, is able to submit a communication and have it considered by the Working Group.488 485 UN Fact Sheet No. 26, “The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention”, Part IV(b), available at: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/FactSheet26en.pdf. 486 http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Detention/Pages/WGADIndex.aspx. See also, UN Fact Sheet No. 26, “The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention”, Part III, available at: http://www.ohchr.org/ Documents/Publications/FactSheet26en.pdf. 487 Annual reports accessible, on 10 December 2013, available at: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/ Detention/Pages/Annual.aspx. 488 UN Fact Sheet No. 26, “The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention”, Part IV, available at: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/FactSheet26en.pdf. 149