later, to make this right meaningful, access to a lawyer and (where necessary) an interpreter must be assured from commencement of the detention. In addition, article 9(3) of the ICCPR provides that anyone arrested or detained on a criminal charge shall be brought promptly before a judge or other officer authorised by law to exercise judicial power and shall be entitled to trial within a reasonable time or to release. The Body of Principles on Detention uses similar language in Principle 11. The Terrorism Conventions that allow for detention also lay down general principles that relate to the time between which a person is detained and when criminal or extradition proceedings are instituted. Article 6(1) of the Hague Convention for example provides that: custody and other measures shall be as provided in the law of that State but may only be continued for such time as is necessary to enable any criminal or extradition proceedings to be instituted.30 (emphasis added) Article 10 of the Nuclear Materials Convention similarly provides that: The State Party in whose territory the alleged offender is present shall, if it does not extradite him, submit, without exception whatsoever and without undue delay, the case to its competent authorities for the purpose of prosecution, through proceedings in accordance with the laws of that State. (emphasis added) The Draft Terrorism Convention in Article 11.1 contains this same wording.31 The Human Rights Committee in its General Comment on Article 9 of the ICCPR has said, in the context of criminal cases, that any delays in bringing a person who has been arrested or detained before a judicial officer must not exceed a few days.32 In our view, an even shorter time frame must apply to cases of administrative detention and, in any event, as indicated above, administrative detention should only be resorted to in exceptional cases and for strictly limited periods. 30 See also Article 6(1), Montreal Convention. See also Article 10.1, Maritime Navigation Convention which is similarly worded without the addition of ‘undue’. The Tokyo Convention in Article 13.2 permits custody to be continued only ‘for such time as is reasonably necessary to enable any criminal or extradition proceedings to be instituted. 31 32 Human Rights Committee General Comment 8, Article 9 (1982) para 2. 40