1 UN TREATY BODIES detention system may also create conditions conducive to torture or ill-treatment, or, on the contrary, an environment in which such acts are not tolerated. Given their reduced autonomy, prisoners and other detainees are particularly vulnerable to abuse. The ICCPR therefore includes an article explicitly requiring that detainees be treated with humanity,177 and the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment aims to “establish a system of regular visits undertaken by independent international and national bodies to places where people are deprived of their liberty, in order to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”178 – ICCPR As discussed in section 1 of this chapter, the HRC usually considers general conditions of detention under Article 10(1) ICCPR, and abuses targeted against particular detainees under Article 7. In its General Comment on Article 10, the HRC indicated that the humane treatment of detainees required by this article implies compliance with existing UN standards in this area.179 In Mukong v Cameroon, the HRC explained further the obligations under this Article, laying out absolute minimum standards that must be observed regardless of a State Party’s level of development. “These include, in accordance with rules 10, 12, 17, 19 and 20 of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, minimum floor space and cubic content of air for each prisoner, adequate sanitary facilities, clothing which shall be in no manner degrading or humiliating, provision of a separate bed and provision of food of nutritional value adequate for health and strength. It should be noted that these are minimum requirements which the Committee considers should always be observed, even if economic or budgetary considerations may make compliance with these obligations difficult.”180 See the discussion of Article 10(1), above. Article 1, Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Oher Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. 179 The standards specifically referred to in the General Comment are: the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (1957); the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment (1988); the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials (1978); and the Principles of Medical Ethics relevant to the Role of Health Personnel, particularly Physicians, in the Protection of Prisoners and Detainees against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1982). HRC, General Comment No. 21, 1992, §5. 180 Mukong v Cameroon (1994), op. cit., §9.3. 177 178 39