and the Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law53 equally stipulate that complaints about torture should be investigated ‘promptly.’ II. Substantive rights and obligations (i) Timely access to complaints procedures, including prompt access to a judge Anyone alleging torture must have effective access to complaints procedures. To this end, detainees and others need to be promptly informed about available remedies and complaints procedures,54 and need to have prompt access to lawyers, physicians and family members55 and, in the case of foreign nationals, diplomatic and consular representatives.56 They must be able to lodge complaints with appropriate bodies in a confidential manner57 in any form and without delay. The right to be promptly brought before a judge (habeas corpus) is particularly important to ensure the right to complain of torture. While the immediate purpose of habeas corpus is to prevent arbitrary detention, it is often the first or only opportunity for a detainee to complain of torture to an independent body. As held by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights: “In cases concerning deprivation of liberty, …the habeas corpus remedy constituted, among indispensable judicial guarantees, the most suitable means to ensure freedom, oversee the respect for life and personal integrity and avoid disappearances or lack of information about detention centres, as well as to protect the individual from torture or other forms of cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment.”58 The right to habeas corpus is expressly guaranteed in Article 5 (3) and (4) of the European Convention on Human Rights and Article 7 (5) of the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Right has recognised that the right 53 Basic principles and guidelines on the right to a remedy and reparation for victims of gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law, UN Doc. A/RES/60/147, 16 December 2005. 54 Concluding Observations of the Human Rights Committee: Bolivia, UN Doc. CCPR/C/79/Add.74, 1 May 1997, para.28; Principle 13 of the Body of Principle for the Protection of All Persons under any Form of Detention or Imprisonment (hereinafter Body of Principles) and Rule 35 of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. According to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, “Rights for persons deprived of their liberty will be of little value if the persons concerned are unaware of their existence. Consequently, it is imperative that persons taken into police custody are expressly informed of their rights without delay and in a language which they understand. In order to ensure that this is done, a form setting out those rights in a straightforward manner should be systematically given to persons detained by the police at the very outset of their custody. Further, the persons concerned should be asked to sign a statement attesting that they have been informed of their rights.” European Committee for the Prevention of Torture The CPT Standards, 12th General Report, Council of Europe, October 2001, CPT/Inf (2002) 15, para.44. 55 CPT, 12th General Report, para.40: “As from the outset of its activities, the CPT has advocated a trinity of rights for persons detained by the police: the rights of access to a lawyer and to a doctor and the right to have the fact of one’s detention notified to a relative or another third party of one’s choice.” Principles 15-19 of the Body of Principles. 56 Principle 16 (2) of the Body of Principles; Rule 38 of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. The International Court of Justice has in the LaGrand Case (Germany v United States of America), para.77 and the Case Concerning Avena and other Mexican Nationals (Mexico v. United States of America), recognised that Article 36 (1) of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations creates individual rights for the national concerned. 57 See CPT, Report to the Government of Cyprus on the visit to Cyprus carried out by the European Committee on the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment from 22-30 May 2000, CPT/Inf (2003) 1, para.41: “The right for prisoners to have confidential access to appropriate authorities is an important additional safeguard against illtreatment. In this respect, the CPT’s delegation noted that the prison authorities have installed locked boxes through which inmates may have direct access to the Director of Nicosia Central Prisons and to the Prison Board. This is a welcome development, which should be extended to allow prisoners direct access to bodies which are entirely independent of the prison system.” See also Principle 33 (3) of the Body of Principles: “Confidentiality concerning the request or complaint shall be maintained if so requested by the complainant.” 58 La Cantuta v. Peru, para.111, and Advisory Opinion, Judicial guarantees in states of emergency (Article 27 (2), 25 and 8 American Convention on Human Rights, para.35. 17