-5The legal basis for the CPT's access to such information is to be found in Article 8 (2) (d) of the
Convention: "A Party shall provide the Committee with ...... other information available to the Party which is
necessary for the Committee to carry out its task". The same provision stipulates further that, "In seeking such
information, the Committee shall have regard to applicable rules of national law and professional ethics". The
CPT wishes to stress that, although this latter sentence clearly allows for certain conditions to be attached to the
provision of the information sought (eg. as regards access to medical records, the presence of a member of the
medical service of the place of detention concerned when they are examined), it cannot be used to justify an
outright refusal to grant access to the information requested, nor access under conditions which would be
tantamount to a refusal.
The CPT would add that, in practically all of the cases in which difficulties arose, satisfactory solutions
were found following consultation with the liaison officer and the relevant authorities.
6.
Access to cupboards, lockers, drawers, etc. in a place of detention has also given rise to problems from
time to time, in particular when the item of furniture in question is said to be used by a particular officer, is
locked, and the officer in question is not present.
The legal basis for such access is to be found in Article 8, paragraph 2, sub-paragraphs c. and d. of the
Convention, and the granting of this facility is a matter to which the CPT attaches great importance; indeed, the
effectiveness of a visit could be undermined just as much by denial of access to a particular cupboard or locker
as by denial of access to a particular room or document. The CPT would hasten to add, however, that
delegations do not systematically seek such access, but do so only when there is reason to believe that
inspection of the contents of the item of furniture concerned may reveal matters of relevance to the Committee's
mandate. Further, if the item of furniture is said to be "personal" to a particular officer, visiting delegations will
request that the officer in question is informed of the situation, so that he has the opportunity, if he so wishes, to
be present when its contents are examined.
b.
Meetings and follow-up of visits
7.
The CPT held four plenary sessions during 1993. The Bureau also met on a regular basis, and there
were numerous meetings of visiting delegations.
8.
Eight visit reports were adopted during 1993: on the periodic visits to Cyprus, Finland, the
Netherlands, San Marino and Turkey in 1992, and to Greece, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg in 19932.
2
Further, to date in 1994, reports have been adopted on the periodic visits to Belgium, Iceland,
Ireland and Norway and on the ad hoc visit to Northern Ireland.