United Nations Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems
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(h) To make available in police stations and places of detention the
means to contact legal aid providers;
(i) To ensure that persons detained, arrested, suspected or accused of,
or charged with a criminal offence are advised of their rights and the
implications of waiving them in a clear and plain manner; and should
endeavour to ensure that the person understands both;
(j) To ensure that persons are informed of any mechanism available
for filing complaints of torture or ill‑treatment;
(k) To ensure that the exercise of these rights by a person is not
prejudicial to his or her case.
Guideline 4.
Legal aid at the pretrial stage
44. To ensure that detained persons have prompt access to legal aid in
conformity with the law, States should take measures:
(a) To ensure that police and judicial authorities do not arbitrarily
restrict the right or access to legal aid for persons detained, arrested, suspected
or accused of, or charged with a criminal offence, in particular in police
stations;
(b) To facilitate access for legal aid providers assigned to provide
assistance to detained persons in police stations and other places of detention
for the purpose of providing that assistance;
(c) To ensure legal representation at all pretrial proceedings and
hearings;
(d) To monitor and enforce custody time limits in police holding cells
or other detention centres, for example, by instructing judicial authorities to
screen the remand caseload in detention centres on a regular basis to make
sure that people are remanded lawfully, that their cases are dealt with in
a timely manner and that the conditions in which they are held meet the
relevant legal standards, including international ones;
(e) To provide every person, on admission to a place of detention, with
information on his or her rights in law, the rules of the place of detention
and the initial stages of the pretrial process. Such information should be
provided in a manner that corresponds to the needs of illiterate persons,
minorities, persons with disabilities and children and be in a language that
the person in need of legal aid understands. Information provided to children
should be provided in a manner appropriate for their age and maturity. The