CHAPTER 28. ARRANGEMENTS FOR INVESTIGATIONS AND INSPECTIONS OBJECTIVE The objective of this chapter is to underline the importance of investigation procedures to deal with allegations of human rights violations and the importance of both internal and independent forms of inspection and how they should be arranged. This chapter should be cross-referenced with chapter 3 of the Manual, dealing with torture and ill-treatment. ESSENTIAL PRINCIPLES Each State party to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment shall ensure a prompt and impartial investigation whenever there are reasonable grounds to believe that an act of torture or illtreatment has been committed. There shall be thorough, prompt and impartial investigation of all suspected cases of extralegal, arbitrary or summary execution, including cases where complaints by relatives or other reliable reports suggest unnatural death in the above circumstances. Prisons shall be inspected regularly by qualified and experienced inspectors from a competent authority separate from the prison administration. Every prisoner shall have the right to communicate freely and confidentially with inspectors, subject only to the demands of good order and discipline in the institution. BASIS IN INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS As pointed out in chapter 3 of this Manual, independent inspection is particularly important where there is any allegation of torture or inhuman treatment. Article 11 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment provides that: Each State Party shall keep under systematic review interrogation rules, instructions, methods and practices as well as arrangements for the custody and treatment of persons subjected to any form of arrest, detention or imprisonment in any territory under its jurisdiction, with a view to preventing any cases of torture. Article 12 of the Convention provides that: Each State Party shall ensure that its competent authorities proceed to a prompt and impartial investigation, wherever there is reasonable ground to believe that an act of torture has been committed in any territory under its jurisdiction. Under article 16, paragraph 1, of the Convention against Torture, the same obligation applies to acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. 134