442. A state of emergency had been declared in Kosovo in 1981 and lifted in 1989. The Secretary-General had been duly informed in both cases. While judicial remedies offered the best protection for the exercise of the rights guaranteed under the Covenant, it was not always possible, in a climate of interetbnic and interreligious hatred, to prosecute all individuals suspected of crimes. All international obligations of Yugoslavia with regard to ethnic minorities and human rights would be respected under the new Constitution, but the status of autonomous provinces had to be different from that of the 1974 Constitution since the rights granted to those provinces had been widely abused in the past. Right to life, liberty and security of the person, treatment of prisoners and other persons deprived of their liberty and right to a fair trial 443. In connection with those issues, members of the Committee wished to know what had been the nature and extent of the "flagrant violations of basic human rights" that had occurred during military operations; what concrete measures were being taken to ensure strict compliance with articles 6 and 7 of the Covenant; whether investigations had been carried out in respect of violations/ particularly regarding cases of torture/ disappearances and killings during military operations and action to punish those found guilty and to avoid the recurrence of such acts; what complaints had been made concerning human rights violations by the army and paramilitary groups and what had been done to investigate those cases and to punish the culprits; what arrangements had been made for the efficient supervision of any places of detention and what procedures existed for submitting and investigating complaints; whether there were any independent and impartial procedures under which complaints could be made and investigated about the ill-treatment of individuals by the police, members of the security forces or prison officials; and what concrete measures had been taken since the examination of the second periodic report to strengthen judicial independence and how the current crisis had affected the situation. 444. In addition, although the investigation of atrocities committed by the Serbian army and paramilitary units was welcomed/ it was felt that the lack of proper government control over the army had contributed to the deteriorating situation and helped to accelerate the disintegration of the country. In that regard, information was requested on the implementation of articles 6 and 7 of the Covenant in the parts of the breakaway territories under the control of the Yugoslav army; on the orders that had been given to the army as to the military operations to be conducted; and, in general, on any measures envisaged to keep the army under full control. It was also asked how many civilians had been killed during the armed conflict; whether there were any reliable statistics on summary executions and disappearances; and for what crimes the death penalty could be imposed. With regard to articles 9 and 14 of the Covenant, it was inquired what the maximum length of detention pending trial was and whether measures had been taken to strengthen the independence of the judiciary. 445. In His reply, the representative of the State party explained that efforts had been made by the federal army to safeguard the rights of individuals. Many instances had, however, been documented of genocidal acts committed by Croatian military and paramilitary units against the Serbian population in Croatia. Admittedly, the Yugoslav army had not always been able -106-