The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) : operational practice

Abstract

The CPT is the creation of a Convention of the same name which came into force in February 1989. The Convention does not establish any new norms, hut aims to strengthen the obligation found in the European Convention for the Protection of Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms, Article 3 states that: 'No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment'. The Convention does so by non-judicial means of a preventive nature. A state party to the Convention agrees to a system of visits carried out by the CPT to 'any place within its jurisdiction where persons are deprived of their liberty by a public authority' (Article 2). This includes prisons, police stations, closed psychiatric hospitals, immigration detention centres, juvenile reformatories, and so on. The system is based on the parallel principles of co-operation and confidentiality. At the time of writing (May 1997) 33 countries are bound by the Convention and more have committed themselves to ratifying the Convention system in the near future. [excerpt]