and individual communications. UN experts have also developed guidelines to support the created compliance with international standards of prison management. In 2019, the Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment has developed a self-assessment checklist on healthcare issues related to the monitoring of detention for national preventive mechanisms. The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has produced guidelines on right to liberty and security of persons with disabilities and providing states with additional guidelines. As some of the examples above illustrate, the UN continues to honor Nelson Mandela’s legacy by working closely with states, CSOs, and NHRIs to safeguard human rights of people deprived of their liberty. Ms. Verma continued her remarks with a saying that goes with, “the degree of a civilisation in a society can be judged by entering its prisons". Nelson Mandela clearly agreed that “no one knows a nation until one has been in its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens but the lowest ones.” The rules adopted in his name have become the worldwide blueprint for governments to improve their performances that the rules have been so broadly embraced as a reason for hope but practically realising the spirit and vision of the rules will take courage, commitment, and every form of encouragement from governments. Ms. Verma further elaborated, for centuries, criminal justice systems and prisons have been designated and designed for men and by men. Women in detention and prisoners are often forgotten and left behind once in confinement. This however has changed in 2010 with the Bangkok Rules which are the UN Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-Custodial Measures for Women Offenders, which broke away from this history by establishing the first set of international human rights standards focusing on specific needs and experience of women deprived of their liberty. The Bangkok Rules provides guidance to policy makers, legislators, sentencing authorities and prison staffs on a wide variety of issues including gender sensitive alternatives to pre-trial detention and sentencing post-conviction. It is designed to meet women’s needs and to address the cause of their offences. However, 11 years after the adoption, the global female prison population has increased significantly. Women in detention face even more hardships and risks to their human rights as the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic continues. As noted by several human rights experts with mandate relating to detention and women’s rights, worrying trend has emerged since 2020 regarding the negative impact of COVID-19 response measures in criminal justice systems and women. Women and girls represent an average of only two to nine percent of the national prison populations and have been in many instances overlooked in COVID-19 responses. Ms. Verma in her address said that specific groups including persons with disabilities, indigenous people, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex persons (LGBTI)51 51 Rule 2 of the Mandela Rules while not explicitly referring to LGBTI persons contains emphasis on the principle of non-discrimination and its practical implications. This requires that each person’s needs are covered for especially those in the most vulnerable categories so that no prisoner experiences discrimination in their treatment. 29