obtain, legal personality under Polish law needed, in effect, at least 15 Polish citizens as members. Bight to life 143. With reference to that issue, members of the Committee wished to know the current status of the bill intended to abolish the death penalty; the results, if any, obtained through the activities of the ad hoc commission set up to consider cases of deaths in mysterious circumstances during the 1982-1988 period; and what measures had been taken against environmental pollution to protect the right to life. In addition, members of the Committee wished to know whether any cases of involuntary disappearances had occurred under the former regime; whether Poland had launched any information campaigns on AIDS and its prevention; and how the new bill on the legal protection of unborn children differed from the 1956 Act concerning the termination of pregnancy. 144. In reply, the representative of the State party said that the ad hoc Commission established by the Diet to consider the cases of deaths which might be attributable to officials of the civic militia or the security services had examined 115 of the 120 cases of unexplained death before it. In 24 of those cases the Commission established that there had been no connection with activities of the Ministry of the Interior. In the 91 other cases, the Commission recommended either that the case be reopened if it had been previously dropped or that criminal proceedings be instituted. The Parliament had endorsed the Commission's proposals and ordered the public prosecutor to investigate the cases to identify those responsible. The Prosecutor was required to report on the results of his inquiry by 31 December 1992. With regard to AIDS, Polish authorities had undertaken information campaigns on the disease and its prevention and a great many publications on the subject were available in Poland. On the subject of the termination of pregnancy, the debate in Parliament in 1989 on that complex question had proven inconclusive. The new Parliament, therefore, would have to decide the question, 145. Responding to questions concerning environmental problems, the representative pointed out that 11 per cent of Polish territory was threatened by pollution as a result of the industrialization policy of the former regime. An act on the monitoring by the State of ecological conditions had been promulgated in 1990 and, as a result, industrial polluters had been closed down or otherwise penalized. Other measures recommended in a policy statement adopted by the Government in October 1991 still needed to be implemented. The economic situation posed serious constraints in that respect, although measures such as the conversion of foreign debt into ecological investments, financial assistance from the World Bank and loans granted by the European Community and the 24 most industrialized countries were steps in the right direction. Liberty and security of the person 146. With regard to that issue, members of the Committee wished to know the impact of the process of reform of criminal law on the implementation of article 9 of the Covenant; the maximum length of pretrial detention; whether there was any provision for a regular review by a court of such detention; the composition and activities of the misdemeanour commissions; and what progress had been achieved in the work on the mental health bill guaranteeing the protection of the rights of persons confined in psychiatric hospitals. -32-