PART 2: Procedures of the Human Rights Commitee and the Committee against Torture deprivation of liberty linked to or resulting from the use of the internet495 and issues related to psychiatric detention.496 The most recent deliberation was No. 9 on the definition and scope of arbitrary deprivation of liberty under customary international law, adopted with the Working Group’s Annual Report in 2012.497 iii. Urgent Action Where the Working Group receives information indicating that a situation urgently requires its attention it may issue an urgent appeal. The Working Group will engage in this process where it receives sufficiently reliable allegations that a person is being arbitrarily detained, and that the detention constitutes a serious threat to the person’s life or health, or in other exceptional circumstances where the Working Group decides that such an appeal is warranted. In these situations, the Working Group will send the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the relevant State an urgent appeal requesting him or her to take all appropriate action to ensure that the physical and mental integrity of the individual/s concerned is protected. These appeals are purely humanitarian in nature and do not assume guilt on the part of the State.498 They have no effect on any subsequent decision by the Working Group regarding the relevant detention.499 Following an urgent appeal, the Working Group may submit the case to its Communications procedure in order to render an Opinion on the matter. However, this is entirely separate from the Urgent Action, and the State will be required to respond to each procedure separately.500 iv. Country Visits The Working Group also conducts visits to the territory of States at government invitation. Visits are “an opportunity for the Working Group to engage in direct dialogue with the Government in question and with representatives of civil society, with the aim of better understanding the situation of deprivation of liberty in the country and the underlying reasons for arbitrary detention”.501 Country visits take place at the invitation of the Government concerned, and involve visits to prisons, police stations, detention centres for migrants, and psychiatric hospitals, among others. 495 496 497 498 Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Deliberation 8, (2006) UN Doc. E/CN.4/2006/7. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Deliberation 7, (2005) UN Doc. E/CN.4/2005/6. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Annual Report, (2012) UN Doc. A/HRC/22/44, Part III. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Revised Working Methods, (2011) UN Doc. A/HRC/16/47, Annex, Part V, para. 23. 499 UN Fact Sheet No. 26, “The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention”, Part V, available at: http://www. ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/FactSheet26en.pdf. 500 Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Revised Working Methods, (2011) UN Doc. A/HRC/16/47, Annex, Part V, para. 23. 501 Ibid. See also UN Fact Sheet No. 26, “The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention”, Part V, available at: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/FactSheet26en.pdf. 151