Terms of Reference for country visits by special procedures

In 1998, the special procedures adopted Terms of Reference for country visits by mandate holders to States and territories reflecting the need for freedom of movement, freedom on inquiry, in particular contacts with central and local authorities of all branches of Government, confidential and unsupervised contacts with civil society, including non-governmental organizations, private institutions, media, witnesses and other private persons, and full access to all places of detention and interrogation as considered necessary for the fulfilment of the mandate concerned, assurances by the Government that no persons who have been in contact with mandate holders will suffer threats, harassment or punishment for doing so and appropriate security arrangement without restricting the above-mentioned freedom of movement and inquiry.

The 1998 Terms of Reference

At the twenty-third annual meeting of special procedures, mandate holders decided to update these Terms of Reference as some terms were no longer in use and to reflect developments that occurred since 1998 (based on Appendix V, E/CN.4/1998/45).

The 2016 Terms of Reference in English | French | Spanish