3
I.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS
1.
At the outset it might be useful to recall the essence of the CPT's mandate. The Committee's task is to
examine the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty, with a view to strengthening, if necessary, the
protection of such persons from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. For this purpose it
is entitled to visit any place within the jurisdiction of Parties to the European Convention for the Prevention of
Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (hereinafter "the Convention") where persons are
held by a public authority. The CPT organises periodic visits as well as any other visits which appear to it to be
required in the circumstances (so-called "ad hoc" visits). The CPT's activities are based on the concept of cooperation (Article 3 of the Convention). The Committee's role is not to publicly criticise States, but rather to
assist them in finding ways of enhancing the protection of persons deprived of their liberty from ill-treatment.
2.
The CPT has now completed the first, preparatory, phase of its activities (adoption and refinement of
the Committee's Rules of Procedure, elaboration of common working tools, establishment of relations with
other international bodies, training of members, working out of methods for the conduct of visits and their
follow up). As a result, it has been able during 1991 to concentrate more on its principal activity, namely the
carrying out of visits and related tasks i.e. preparation of visits, drawing up of visit reports, consideration of
interim and follow-up reports from States in response to the CPT's reports, etc.
3.
In the first General Report (CPT (91) 3), the CPT set out in detail the procedural and organisational
framework devised for the proper conduct of its visits, described the Committee's main features and the
preventive nature of its functions, and provided some indications as regards the mechanics of the visiting
process. These areas shall not be dealt with in depth again in the present report, though significant
developments concerning the "organisation and internal workings" of the Committee and "its activities proper"1
shall be highlighted.
4.
On the other hand, the CPT considers that it would be appropriate - while fully respecting the rule of
confidentiality laid down in Article 11 of the Convention - to set out in its general reports certain substantive
matters to which it pays attention when carrying out visits. In this report, brief reference shall be made to some
issues related to police custody of criminal suspects and imprisonment. The CPT intends to explore several of
these issues in greater depth in future reports as well as to examine matters of interest concerning other forms of
deprivation of liberty (eg. administrative detention of aliens; confinement of the mentally ill; confinement of
the elderly; detention of minors; etc.). The Committee hopes in this way to give a clear advance indication to
national authorities of its views on different matters falling within its mandate and more generally to stimulate
discussion on issues concerning the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty. In the long term, the
compilation of a corpus of standards on the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty might be envisaged
(cf. the 1st General Report, op. cit. paragraphs 95 and 96).
1
cf. paragraph 79 of the Explanatory Report on the Convention.