The overall purpose of this checklist is to assist Member States in conducting internal or administrative inspections to assess compliance of their national prison systems with the Nelson Mandela Rules, and thus to facilitate the practical application of the Rules at national level. More specifically, it aims to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of internal inspection systems conducted by the central prison administration as important agents of change now explicitly referred to in the Rules in their task of contributing to the creation of prison conditions and management in line with national law as well as with international standards and norms.

Selected by Choice magazine as a Outstanding Academic Book for 2000 Nelson Mandela once said, "Human rights have become the focal point of international relations." This has certainly become true in American relations with the People's Republic of China. Ann Kent's book documents China's compliance with the norms and rules of international treaties, and serves as a case study of the effectiveness of the international human rights regime, that network of international consensual agreements concerning acceptable treatment of individuals at the hands of nation-states. Since the early 1980s, and particularly since 1989, by means of vigorous monitoring and the strict maintenance of standards, United Nations human rights organizations have encouraged China to move away from its insistence on the principle of noninterference, to take part in resolutions critical of human rights conditions in other nations, and to accept the applicability to itself of human rights norms and UN procedures. Even though China has continued to suppress political dissidents at home, and appears at times resolutely defiant of outside pressure to reform, Ann Kent argues that it has gradually begun to implement some international human rights standards.

Part Two. HUMAN RIGHTS

This handbook discusses the importance of effective prisoner file management, illustrating the consequences of poor or non-existent management. It will be of particular relevance to prison systems that do not have electronic systems for managing files. It outlines the key international human rights standards that apply to prisoner and detainee file management. It also summarizes and illustrates the key requirements of prison systems in relation to prisoner and detainee file management in order to meet international human rights standards and how these might be met.