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The regular procedure of a communication to the WGAD will trigger the adoption of an opinion of the WGAD as to the arbitrariness of the detention.

The WGAD issues approximately 70-90 opinions per year and all of these are adopted during its sessions. In each opinion, which is a public document (once adopted), the WGAD examines whether the situation presented is one of arbitrary detention and if so, the WGAD qualifies the situation under one or more of the five categories. It then recommends that the State take appropriate actions (usually the release of the individual) and may also ask for reparations (e.g. compensation) as well as guarantees of non-repetition.

Each opinion entails a follow-up section where the Government and the source are asked to respond within six months on the steps taken regarding the implementation of its recommendations. The WGAD may also invite other parties, such as civil society organizations, to provide further information on the implementation of the suggested measures.

Opinions adopted by the WGAD

To access all the opinions adopted by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, please visit the WGAD database, where you can search by date, category, region and symbol. To access the opinions in all six UN languages, please use the Official Document System of the United Nations

You can also visit the links below for the opinions adopted by the Working Group at each session.

SessionDatesOpinions adopted
100th26 to 30 August 2024Opinions adopted at the 100th session
99th18 to 27 March 2024Opinions adopted at the 99th session
98th13 to 17 November 2023Opinions adopted at the 98th session
97th28 August-1 Sept 2023Opinions adopted at the 97th session
96th27 March-5 April 2023Opinions adopted at the 96th session
95th14-18 November 2022Opinions adopted at the 95th session
94th29 August-2 September 2022Opinions adopted at the 94th session
93rd30 March-8 April 2022Opinions adopted at the 93rd session
92nd15-19 November 2021Opinions adopted at the 92nd session
91st6-10 September 2021Opinions adopted at the 91st session
90th3-12 May 2021Opinions adopted at the 90th session
89th23 - 27 November 2020Opinions adopted at the 89th session
88th24 - 28 August 2020Opinions adopted at the 88th session
87th27 April - 1 May 2020Opinions adopted at the 87th session
86th18 - 22 November 2019Opinions adopted at the 86th session
85th12 - 16 August 2019Opinions adopted at the 85th session
84th24 April - 3 May 2019Opinions adopted at the 84th session
83rd19 - 23 November 2018Opinions adopted at the 83rd session
82nd20 - 24 August 2018Opinions adopted at the 82nd session
81st17 - 26 April 2018Opinions adopted at the 81st session
80th20 - 24 November 2017Opinions adopted at the 80th session
79th21 - 25 August 2017Opinions adopted at the 79th session
78th19 - 28 April 2017Opinions adopted at the 78th session
77th21 - 25 November 2016Opinions adopted at the 77th session
76th22 - 26 August 2016Opinions adopted at the 76th session