European Committee for the Prevention of Torture

Description

The CPT is the Council of Europe’s committee against torture and inhuman treatment in places of detention. Its full name is the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and it visits police cells, prisons, immigration detention centres and psychiatric institutions to check how people held there are treated.

The CPT was set up under the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture, which came into force in 1989. Its members are independent experts in law, medicine and other fields, one elected per member state for a four-year term, and all Council of Europe member states have ratified the convention.

Delegations of CPT members, sometimes joined by outside experts and interpreters, carry out periodic and ad hoc visits with unrestricted access to detention sites. After each visit the CPT sends a confidential report with findings and recommendations to the government concerned. Reports are published only if the state agrees, though the CPT may issue a public statement when a government refuses to cooperate or improve conditions.

The committee’s guiding principles are cooperation with national authorities and confidentiality, rather than public condemnation. It has carried out more than 560 visits and published over 500 reports since it began work.