ix) Proposed new paragraph 18 ter: 41. The draft General Comment does not reference that persons under threat of involuntary transfer who are detained are at increased risk of being subjected to torture or other ill-treatment, including by being held in conditions that themselves may amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.68 Furthermore, removals can entail “a manifest risk of inhuman and degrading treatment.”69 The General Comment should provide recommendations to monitor the situation of persons under threat of involuntary transfer to reduce the risk that they are tortured or ill-treated either during their pre-removal detention, in transit, or on arrival. Recommended textual addition: (new paragraph 18 ter) In order to reduce the risk of torture or other ill-treatment in detention and during transit to the destination State, States parties should give full access to independent monitors, and establish a system of regular monitoring if such system does not exist, including those foreseen under the Optional Protocol to the Convention. e) Section IV: Diplomatic assurances, paragraphs 19-20 i. Paragraphs 19-20 42. We respectfully suggest that paragraph 19 is unnecessary and thus recommend its deletion. With respect to paragraph 20, in light of our comments above, we repeat our recommendation that the term involuntary transfer be used instead of deportation. Further, we consider that the guidance value and clarity of paragraph 20 would be enhanced by more expressly stating that diplomatic assurances are contrary to the prohibition of refoulement in the Convention and thus should not be used, reflecting the Committee’s own jurisprudence as well as that of other human rights bodies and experts.70 We 68 See for example, CAT, Concluding Observations: Australia, UN Doc. CAT/C/AUS/CO/4-5, 23 Dec. 2014, para. 17; ECtHR, M.S.S. v Belgium and Greece, App. no. 30696/09, 21 Jan. 2011; ECtHR, Khlaifia and Others v Italy [GC], App. no. 16483/12, 15 Dec. 2016, paras 171-177. 69 Committee for the Prevention of Torture, Report to the Government of the United Kingdom on the visit to the United Kingdom carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 22 to 24 October 2012, para. 9. See also, HRC, Alzery v. Sweden, UN Doc. CCPR/C/88/D/1416/2005, 25 Oct. 2006, para. 11.6. 70 CAT, Concluding Observations: United Kingdom, UN Doc. CAT/C/GBR/CO/5, 24 June 2013, “Reliance on diplomatic assurances, 18. The Committee notes with concern the State party’s reliance on diplomatic assurances to justify the deportation of foreign nationals suspected of terrorism-related offences to countries in which the widespread practice of torture is alleged (arts. 3 and 13). The Committee calls on the State party to ensure that no individual – including persons suspected of terrorism, who are expelled, returned, extradited or deported – is exposed to the danger of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. It urges the State party to refrain from seeking and relying on diplomatic assurances “where there are substantial grounds for believing that [the person] would be in danger of being subjected to torture” (art. 3). The more widespread the practice of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, the less likely the possibility of the real risk of such treatment being avoided by diplomatic assurances, however stringent any agreed follow-up procedure may be. Therefore, the Committee considers that diplomatic assurances are unreliable and ineffective and should not be used as an instrument to modify the determination of the Convention.” See also, Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak, UN Doc. A/HRC/10/44/Add.2, 18 February 2009, para. 69; Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak, UN Doc. A/HRC/13/39, 9 February 2010, para. 67. 21 AI Index: IOR 40/6040/2017