A/HRC/13/39/Add.5 had been held for several months despite a maximum duration of detention of 30 days. Numerous minors reported confidentially of beatings by educators with fists or objects as forms of corporal punishment.174 226. In some countries, such as Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Togo, the prison administration openly admitted the use of corporal punishment. In most cases, these admissions were confessions of the failure and inability to keep discipline among detainees in a civilized manner, rather than a belief in the effectiveness of this kind of punishment. 227. Not only am I of the view that corporal punishment is inconsistent with the prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment. It also appears from my experiences that it is also inevitably members of vulnerable, discriminated or powerless groups, such as women, children or detainees falling victim to corporal punishment, which makes it even less comprehensible why the use of corporal punishment is still defended. 228. In my report to the Human Rights Council in 2009, I also raised the question whether capital punishment, as the ultimate form of corporal punishment, can be reconciled with the absolute prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.175 I was heavily criticized by certain Governments which even went as far as accusing me of having overstepped my mandate and violated the Code of Conduct.176 Rather than repeating the various arguments raised in my report and during the inter-active dialogue in the Human Rights Council, I wish to reiterate my recommendation that a special study of independent experts on this controversial issue should be commissioned by the General Assembly, the Human Rights Council or the Secretary General of the United Nations.177 E. Conditions of detention 229. Human beings may be deprived of personal liberty for various reasons. Most importantly, they may be punished by a court to a prison sentence for having committed a crime. In addition, persons may be detained for certain precautionary or security reasons, such as preventing the spreading of infectious diseases or preventing the escape of a person suspected of having committed a crime or against whom an expulsion order was issued.178 The aim of the punishment or precautionary measure is achieved by the deprivation of personal liberty, which is one of the most precious human rights. Detainees should, therefore, continue to enjoy all other liberties and human rights, unless further restrictions are absolutely necessary for upholding prison discipline or similar justified reasons. 230. As I described in my most recent report to the General Assembly,179 the reality in most countries looks totally different. Since it is an essential element of my fact-finding during country missions to visit prisons, police lock-ups, closed psychiatric institutions and other places of detention, I got a fairly comprehensive impression of the conditions of detention around the world. In many countries I was simply shocked by the way human beings are treated in detention. As soon as they are behind bars, detainees lose most of their human rights and often are simply forgotten by the outside world. With a few notable 174 175 176 177 178 179 A/HRC/13/39Add.3, Appendix, para 95. A/HRC/10/44. Cf., e.g., the respective comments made by the representatives of Egypt, Pakistan (on behalf of the OIC), Saudi Arabia, China, Yemen (on behalf of the Arab Group), Algeria and Sudan during the inter-active dialogue in the HRC on 10 March 2009. A/HRC/10/44, para. 48. For a list of legitimate purposes of deprivation of liberty see, e.g., article 5 ECHR. Article 9 ICPR is less precise and prohibits only arbitrary arrest or detention. A/64/215, 8 et seq. 61