CAT/C/63/4
I. Introduction
1.
Article 16 (3) of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment provides that the Subcommittee on
Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
shall present a public annual report on its activities to the Committee against Torture.
Pursuant to that provision, the eleventh annual report, covering the Subcommittee’s
activities from 1 January to 31 December 2017, was considered and adopted by the
Subcommittee at its thirty-fourth session, and is being submitted to the Committee against
Torture at its sixty-third session.
II. Year in review
A.
Participation in the system of the Optional Protocol
2.
As at 31 December 2017, 87 States were party to the Optional Protocol and 14
States were signatories. In 2017, four States ratified or acceded to the Optional Protocol:
Australia (21 December 2017), Madagascar (21 September 2017), Sri Lanka (5 December
2017) and State of Palestine (29 December 2017).
• The pattern of regional participation was as follows:
African States
22
Asia-Pacific States
11
Eastern European States
19
Latin American and Caribbean States
15
Western European and other States
20
• The regional breakdown of the 14 signatory States was as follows:
B.
African States
9
Asia-Pacific States
1
Eastern European States
0
Latin American and Caribbean States
1
Western European and other States
3
Organizational and membership issues
3.
During the reporting period, the Subcommittee held three one-week sessions in
Geneva: the thirty-first session (12–17 February), the thirty-second (12–16 June) and the
thirty-third (13–17 November).
4.
In accordance with rule 9 of the rules of procedure of the Subcommittee, the seven
newly elected members of the Subcommittee, Satyabhooshun Gupt Domah, Maria Dolores
Gómez, Petros Michaelides, Kosta Mitrovic, Abdallah Ounnir, Zdenka Perović and
Haimoud Ramdan, assumed their duties as members upon taking their solemn oath at the
thirty-first session.
5.
Also at the thirty-first session, the Subcommittee re-elected Sir Malcolm Evans as
its Chair and elected the following members as Vice-Chairs and members of the Bureau:
Lorena González Pinto (Vice-Chair for visits), Aisha Shujune Muhammad (jurisprudence
and Subcommittee Rapporteur), Nora Sveaass (Vice-Chair for external relations) and
Victor Zaharia (Vice-Chair for national preventive mechanisms). The Subcommittee
designated Satyabhooshun Gupt Domah as Rapporteur for reprisals for a term of two years.
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