News
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) publishes report on 2024 visit to Norway
No allegations were received of physical ill-treatment of prisoners by staff in the prisons visited. On the contrary, the Norwegian prison system continued to benefit from a well-trained and motivated staff. It is also positive that the material conditions in the prisons visited were mostly...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) visits Denmark (Greenland)
The purpose of the visit was to examine the conditions of detention, regime and treatment of persons accommodated in the closed unit (Unit A) of the new prison in Nuuk (Ny Anstalt). Brought into service in 2019, it is the only prison establishment in Greenland which has a closed unit. Previously,...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) holds high-level talks on prisons and psychiatry in Denmark
The meetings provided an opportunity to discuss long-standing issues, such as prison overcrowding and material conditions, in particular access to toilets in prison, regimes for remand and high-security prisoners, staffing levels and training. Healthcare, including medical screening on arrival...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) publishes report on 2024 visit to Switzerland
As regards the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty by the police, the CPT once again received allegations of physical ill-treatment and excessive use of force, including biting by police dogs, truncheon blows, headbutts, punches and kicks, as well as violent tackling to the ground....
Review of 2024 activities and upcoming visits for 2025
Prison overcrowding and its nefarious consequences, which include violence, lack of activities and poor living conditions, remain a real problem in more and more countries. The legacy of informal prisoner hierarchies has not yet been overcome in the prison systems of countries of the former...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) carries out a visit to Serbia
The CPT visit of 16 to 18 December was a continuation of its visit to Serbia which took place from 14 to 22 November 2024. The main aim of the visit was to examine the treatment of and safeguards afforded to children and adolescents deprived of their liberty in psychiatric facilities. To this...
Anti-torture Committee publishes report on ad hoc visit to Italy
The visit focused on the treatment and conditions of detention of foreign nationals held in four, closed pre-removal centres (Centri di permanenza per il rimpatrio or CPRs) in Milan, Gradisca, Potenza and Rome. The CPT found several cases of alleged physical ill-treatment and excessive use of...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) publishes report on its 2024 periodic visit to Denmark
During the visit, the CPT delegation examined the treatment and safeguards afforded to persons deprived of their liberty by the police. It also looked into the treatment and conditions of detention of prisoners, foreign nationals detained pursuant to aliens’ legislation, and psychiatric patients....
The Council of Europe anti-torture Committee conducts an ad hoc visit to Spain, focusing on prison and police establishments in Catalonia
The purpose of the visit was to examine the treatment of persons held in police and prison establishments in the autonomous community of Catalonia (Generalitat de Catalunya). To this end, the CPT delegation visited five prison establishments, one juvenile education centre and the Terrasa Prison...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) publishes the response of the Ukrainian authorities to the report on the 2023 visit
October 2023 marked the first visit to Ukraine by the CPT since the beginning of the full-scale military aggression by the Russian Federation in February 2022. As stated at the time of the publication of the visit report in April 2024, the Committee acknowledges the considerable efforts of the...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) publishes report on its 2023 periodic visit to Hungary
During the visit, the CPT delegation focused on the treatment of persons detained in police custody, in several prisons, in the Judicial Observation and Psychiatric Institute (IMEI) and patients of two civil psychiatric facilities. The visit also provided an opportunity to discuss with the...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee visits Georgia
During the visit the delegation examined the treatment and safeguards afforded to persons in police custody, including those detained during the ongoing public demonstrations in Tbilisi. It also looked into the situation of persons held in several prison establishments. In addition, the...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) carries out a visit to Portugal
The visit focused on the treatment and safeguards afforded to people deprived of their liberty by law enforcement agencies. The delegation reviewed the measures taken by the Portuguese authorities to implement the recommendations made by the Committee to strengthen protection from ill-treatment...
35th anniversary of the Convention for the Prevention of Torture: the CPT releases a podcast on the challenges and realities of prisons in Europe
Overcrowding: “building prisons is not the solution” Prison overcrowding, a chronic systemic problem and a long-standing concern for the CPT, is getting worse in many European countries. Therese Rytter and Hugh Chetwynd report on 35 years of observations within European prisons, and stress the...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee visits Serbia
The visit focused on the treatment of adult and juvenile patients deprived of their liberty in forensic and acute wards of several psychiatric facilities across Serbia. The CPT delegation also examined the treatment and conditions of children and young persons held in the Juvenile...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee issues a public statement regarding the Russian Federation
The European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment is an open convention, which means that the Russian Federation has continued to be bound by its provisions even after its expulsion from the Council of Europe in March 2022, following the...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) publishes report on its 2023 periodic visit to Armenia
The delegation examined the treatment of and safeguards afforded to persons deprived of their liberty by the police and the military, as well as the treatment and conditions of detention of persons in several prisons as well as at the Central Prison Hospital. Furthermore, it examined the...
The CPT plenary session adopts five country reports and holds an exchange with the Council of Europe Development Bank
During this session, the CPT adopted reports on recent visits to Czechia (April 2024), Denmark (May-June 2024), Ireland (May 2024), Latvia (May 2024) and Norway (May 2024). The reports will be communicated to the national authorities and published as soon as possible.[1] The Committee held a...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) hold high-level talks on prison reform in Italy
In recent months, the Italian prison system has been confronted with serious challenges to its proper functioning, caused notably by the steady increase in prison overcrowding and its detrimental effects on living conditions, the provision of regime, violence and relations with staff. The spike...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) publishes the response of the Lithuanian authorities to the report on the 2024 visit
The objective of the visit was to examine the implementation of the recommendations of the Committee formulated in the report on the periodic visit carried out in 2021. These recommendations concerned in particular the widespread inter-prisoner violence, and the abundance of illegal drugs in...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee holds high-level talks in the United Kingdom
The prison system of England and Wales has been in a state of chronic crisis for many years. However, in recent months the problems have become acute, with prison places full and emergency measures required to create some breathing space. In this context, the CPT wished to explore with the new...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) carries out a visit to Slovenia
The main objective of the visit was to examine the treatment and living conditions of persons held in prison and of residents living in a special social welfare establishment. Particular attention was paid to the measures taken by the authorities to implement recommendations made by the Committee...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) visits the Netherlands
In the course of the visit, the delegation assessed the treatment in closed residential youth institutions (“Jeugdzorg Plus”), in the light of the 2024 report “Eenzaam Gesloten” by Jason Bhugwandass and earlier reports on the effective protection of youth placed in these institutions against...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) carries out a visit to Romania
The delegation visited all four existing Psychiatric and Safety Measures Hospitals in the country, in order to assess the implementation of the relevant recommendations made by the Committee, in particular after its previous ad hoc visit in 2022. The delegation met with Alexandru Rafila, Minister...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) holds high-level talks in North Macedonia on prisons
The Prime Minister was briefed on the dire situation in Idrizovo Prison, where the conditions of detention remain appalling for hundreds of prisoners. The issues highlighted in the CPT report on the October 2023 visit regarding this and other prisons in the country, such as lack of staff,...
The Council of Europe's anti-torture Committee (CPT) visits France
The delegation visited four large prison establishments experiencing severe challenges linked to overcrowding. The treatment, material conditions and regime applied to remand and sentenced persons were examined in these establishments. Particular attention was also paid to the situation of women...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) publishes the response of the authorities of North Macedonia to the report on the 2023 visit
The visit focused on the treatment of persons deprived of liberty by the police, including the effectiveness of investigations into complaints of alleged police ill-treatment, and on the conditions of detention of persons held in four prison establishments and one juvenile educational centre. It...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) publishes the response of the Albanian authorities to the report on the 2023 visit
The main objective of the visit was to review the treatment and conditions of detention of persons held in police custody and in prisons. A further focus of the visit was the situation of forensic psychiatric patients and prisoners with mental disorders. The CPT delegation also examined, for the...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) publishes report on its 2023 periodic visit to Estonia
The main objective of the visit was to review the measures taken by the Estonian authorities in response to the recommendations made by the Committee after previous visits. In this connection, particular attention was paid to the treatment and conditions of detention of persons in police custody...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) carries out an ad hoc visit to Bulgaria
The objective of the visit was to assess the implementation of the CPT’s long-standing recommendations concerning the treatment and conditions of detention of foreign nationals deprived of their liberty pursuant to aliens legislation. These related to the inadequate material conditions,...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) carries out a visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina
The main objective of the periodic visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) was to examine the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty, notably as regards persons apprehended and detained by various police agencies at the State, Entity and Cantonal levels. The visit was also an opportunity to...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes report on its 2024 ad hoc visit to Lithuania
The objective of the visit was to examine the implementation of the recommendations of the Committee formulated in the report on the periodic visit carried out in 2021, in particular as regards widespread inter-prisoner violence as well as the abundance of illegal drugs in prisons combined with a...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) again calls on Greece to reform its immigration detention system and stop pushbacks
The main objective of the November 2023 visit to Greece was to examine the treatment of foreign nationals deprived of their liberty under immigration legislation in pre-removal detention centres, in police and border guard stations and in the newly built Closed Controlled Access Centres on the...
The CPT held its 114th plenary meeting in July 2024
During this meeting, the CPT adopted the reports on its periodic visit to the Slovak Republic (November-December 2023) and on its ad hoc visits to France overseas (French Guiana and Guadeloupe) (November-December 2023), Italy (April 2024), Lithuania (February 2024), Switzerland (March 2024) and...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee issues public statement on Azerbaijan
The reason behind this exceptional decision to make a public statement is the outright refusal of the Azerbaijani authorities to cooperate with the CPT. The Committee made genuine attempts to engage in a constructive dialogue with the Azerbaijani authorities to address matters that lie at the...
International Day in Support of Victims of Torture: interview with Hugh Chetwynd, Executive Secretary of the CPT
Co-operation, confidentiality and dialogue: the pillars of the CPT. For Hugh Chetwynd, cooperation, confidentiality and dialogue are essential to the success of the CPT's mission. “Our purpose is to realise that there are no perfect systems, but to help states overcome the challenges they are...
Meeting of the CPT President and the Polish Minister of Justice to promote cooperation
The meeting provided in particular an opportunity to discuss the implementation of a number of long-standing recommendations by the CPT, including those concerning the legal safeguards for persons in police custody, standard living space in Polish prisons, the regime of activities and...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) carries out a visit to Denmark
In the course of the visit, the delegation examined the treatment and safeguards afforded to persons deprived of their liberty by the police as well as the treatment and conditions of detention of persons in prison, foreign nationals detained pursuant to aliens’ legislation and psychiatric...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) carries out a visit to Ireland
In the course of the visit, the delegation examined the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty in prison and their conditions of detention. Further, the delegation assessed the situation of persons deprived of their liberty in psychiatric hospitals and juveniles held in an educational...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) carries out a visit to Norway
In the course of the visit, the delegation examined the treatment and safeguards afforded to persons deprived of their liberty by the police as well as the treatment and conditions of detention of persons in prison and at the police immigration detention centre. Further, it assessed the situation...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) visits Latvia
The purpose of this ad hoc visit was to examine the treatment of persons held in prisons and to follow up on the situation found in the 2022 visit. More specifically, the visiting delegation considered the measures taken by the Latvian authorities in response to the long-standing CPT...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) publishes report on its 2023 periodic visit to Cyprus
The main objective of the visit was to examine the treatment and conditions of detention of persons in Nicosia Central Prisons and of persons held under immigration legislation, including at the Menoyia Detention Centre and the Pournara Registration Centre. The visiting delegation also examined...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) publishes report on North Macedonia
The visit focused on treatment by the police, including the effectiveness of investigations into complaints of alleged police ill-treatment, and on the conditions of detention of persons held in four prison establishments and one juvenile educational centre. It also examined the treatment and...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) visits Czechia
In the course of the visit, the delegation examined the treatment and safeguards afforded to persons deprived of their liberty by the police and the treatment of persons in prison and their conditions of detention. Further, it assessed the situation of persons subjected to the measure of security...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) publishes report on Ukraine
The great majority of the interviewed persons who were, or had recently been, in police custody indicated that the police had treated them correctly. The Committee takes note of this positive finding, illustrating the results of efforts deployed by the Ukrainian authorities in recent years to...
The Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) 2023 General Report focuses on the protection of transgender persons in prison
The Committee underlines that this important topic is reflective of a dynamic and evolving social reality within European countries. The experience of the CPT over multiple visits is that transgender persons held in detention can be in a situation of vulnerability, at heightened risk of...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) carries out a visit to Italy
The objective of the visit was to examine the treatment, conditions of detention, legal safeguards and quality of healthcare provided to foreign nationals held in four of the nine operating CPRs throughout the country. In the course of the visit, the delegation held consultations with senior...
The Council of Europe anti-torture Committee announces periodic visits to eight countries in 2025
The Committee intends to examine the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty in the following countries: Azerbaijan Belgium Germany Greece Liechtenstein Montenegro Romania Spain Persons and organisations in possession of relevant information concerning the situation of persons deprived of...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) publishes report on the monitoring of a Frontex-supported return operation from Germany to Pakistan
The report examines the treatment of foreign nationals deprived of their liberty under immigration legislation and the safeguards afforded to them in the context of their removal. The return flight of 5 September 2023 was organised by Germany, with the participation of three EU members states...
Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) visits Switzerland
The purpose of this visit was to examine the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty by the police and in remand detention in four cantons of the Swiss Confederation. In this context, particular attention was paid to the measures taken by the Swiss authorities in response to the...
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