-68.
The process of on-going dialogue between the CPT and Parties to the Convention is, on the whole,
operating satisfactorily. In particular, the great majority of States are forwarding their interim and follow-up
responses to visit reports broadly within the time-limit set by the CPT. Further, the Committee has improved
somewhat its own record as regards providing replies to interim and follow-up responses from Governments.
However, the CPT would like to give more life to this process. Relations between the CPT and Parties
to the Convention during the interval separating visits should not be limited to exchanging paper but should
also encompass regular face-to-face discussions on matters of concern between State authorities and
representatives of the Committee. Such discussions do take place on occasion (cf, for example, paragraph 4),
but there is certainly scope for developing this method.
9.
The trend in favour of publication of the CPT's visit reports and Government responses continued
during 1996. In the course of the year, the Committee's reports on visits to Aruba2, Austria, France, Hungary,
Malta, the Netherlands Antilles, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and the United Kingdom were published at the
request of the Governments concerned, as were a host of interim and follow-up responses from Governments3.
At the time of writing, 44 of the 60 visit reports so far drawn up by the CPT have been published.
Many of the remaining sixteen reports have only recently been forwarded to Governments and will in all
likelihood be published in due course.
C.
Other questions
10.
On 6 December 1996 the CPT had recourse to the power granted to it by Article 10, paragraph 2, of the
Convention4 and made a public statement on Turkey.
The decision to set in motion the Article 10 (2) procedure was taken at the CPT's 23rd meeting, held
from 28 November to 2 December 1994. That decision was a consequence of the facts found during the
Committee's visit to Turkey from 16 to 28 October 1994, concerning the treatment of persons in the custody of
the law enforcement agencies. In accordance with the Convention, the Turkish authorities were invited to
make known their views on this subject.
There followed a period of intensive dialogue between the Turkish authorities and the CPT. However,
in the light of all the information at its disposal, the Committee finally decided at its 31st meeting, held from 2
to 6 December 1996, that the Article 10 (2) procedure should be allowed to run its course.
2
Which forms part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
3
Moreover, to date in 1997 seven additional visit reports have been published (concerning visits
to Bulgaria, Cyprus (two visits), Denmark, Germany, Slovakia and Switzerland).
4
Article 10, paragraph 2, provides as follows: "If the Party fails to co-operate or refuses to
improve the situation in the light of the Committee's recommendations, the Committee may
decide, after the Party has had an opportunity to make know its views, by a majority of twothirds of its members to make a public statement on the matter."