News 2022
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) carries out a visit to Moldova
The objective of the visit was to examine the treatment and conditions of detention of persons held in prison. Particular attention was paid to assessing the progress achieved by the authorities in the implementation of the Committee’s recommendations made following the previous visits. In the...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes the report on its visit to prisons in Belgium
The objective of the visit was to examine the situation in Belgian prisons in light of the recommendations made in the report on the periodic visit carried out in March/April 2017 and the public statement issued in July 2017. The delegation conducted follow-up visits to Antwerp, Lantin, and St....
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee visits the United Kingdom
The main objective of the visit was to examine the treatment of foreign nationals arriving by small boat in the United Kingdom after crossing the English Channel. The delegation visited Western Jet Foil and Manston Short-Term Holding Facility where all such persons are processed and held during...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee monitors treatment of foreign nationals during return flight from Belgium and Cyprus to the Democratic Republic of the Congo
The main objective of the two ad hoc visits, to Belgium and Cyprus, was to examine the treatment and conditions of detention of foreign nationals deprived of their liberty under aliens legislation as well as the procedures and safeguards applied to them in the context of their removal. More...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee carries out visit to Greece
The main objective of the visit was to examine the treatment of persons held in the Korydallos Psychiatric Hospital for prisoners and to carry out targeted follow-up visits to certain areas of the Korydallos Prison Health Centre and the Korydallos Men’s Prison. The delegation also visited the...
The CPT held its October 2022 plenary meeting
During this meeting, the CPT adopted the reports on its periodic visits to Poland (March/April 2022), Latvia (May 2022) and Netherlands (May 2022), as well as on its ad hoc visit to Montenegro (June 2022). These reports will be sent in due course to the respective Governments.[1] The CPT also...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) publishes report on its 2021 visit to Bulgaria
During the visit, the delegation examined the treatment, conditions and legal safeguards offered to patients with psychiatric disorders and residents of social care institutions, as well as the treatment and conditions of detention of persons in police custody and penitentiary establishments. In...
The Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) visits Romania
The purpose of the ad hoc visit was to examine the treatment of patients held in psychiatric establishments and of residents accommodated in residential care homes. To this end, the CPT’s delegation visited four civil psychiatric hospitals where it focused on the treatment of the most acute...
The Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) visits Türkiye
The main objective of the visit was to examine the treatment and conditions of detention of foreign nationals detained under aliens legislation as well as the procedures applied to them in the context of their removal. On the occasion of the visit, the delegation also went to Imralı F-type...
The Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) visits Croatia
The CPT’s delegation reviewed the progress made by the Croatian authorities in respect of its previous recommendations made after its 2017 periodic visit. Particular attention was paid to the treatment and the conditions of detention afforded to male and female prisoners held in four prison...
Council of Europe Anti-torture Committee (CPT) visits San Marino
The purpose of the visit was to assess, in light of the recommendations made during the Committee's previous visit in 2013, the situation of persons in the custody of law enforcement agencies, inmates in San Marino Prison, persons undergoing "compulsory health treatment" (involuntary psychiatric...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes report on its 2020 visit to Germany
In the course of the visit, the delegation examined the treatment and conditions of detention of persons held in several police establishments and prisons, as well as the treatment, living conditions and legal safeguards offered to forensic psychiatric patients in two Länder. In this connection,...
Council of Europe Anti-Torture Committee holds High Level Talks in Greece on prison reform
The main objective was to talk about the action being taken by the Greek Government to address the serious concerns of the Committee regarding the fundamental shortcomings in the treatment and conditions of detention of persons held in prisons. In this context, the delegation was keen to learn...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes report on prisons in Greece
The main objective of the visit was to examine the treatment of prisoners and to review the progress made by the authorities in implementing the Committee’s recommendations made over the past 10 years regarding overcrowding and poor conditions of detention, inter-prisoner violence, severe...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes the response of the Albanian authorities to the report on the 2021 visit
The main objective of the visit was to examine the situation of male and female forensic psychiatric patients in the country. In the visit report, the CPT acknowledged the measures taken by the Albanian authorities to temporarily transfer all male forensic psychiatric patients from Zaharia...
The CPT held its July 2022 plenary meeting
The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) held its 108th plenary meeting in Strasbourg from 4 to 8 July 2022. For the first time since March 2020, virtually all members attended the meeting physically. During this meeting, the CPT...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes report on its 2021 visit to the United Kingdom
In the report, the CPT again highlights the cumulative deleterious effects on the lives of prisoners of chronic overcrowding, poor living conditions and the lack of purposeful regimes. Since 2016, these long-standing problems have been exacerbated by a significant escalation in levels of...
CPT President meets with Councillor for Justice of Catalonia (Spain)
On 20 June 2022, at the Council of Europe's Paris Office, Alan Mitchell, President of the CPT, met Lourdes Ciuró i Buldó, Councillor for Justice (Consellera de Justícia) of the autonomous regional government of Catalonia (Generalitat de Cataluña), assisted by Sergi Blàzquez, Secretary for Penal...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes its report on the ad hoc visit to Georgia
The objective of the visit was to review the implementation of the CPT’s recommendations made in the report on its 2018 periodic visit concerning steps required to combat the phenomena of inter-prisoner violence, intimidation and extortion and the influence of informal prisoner hierarchy in...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee visits Montenegro
The main objective of the visit was to examine the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty by the police as well as the conditions of detention of persons held on remand in prison. In the course of the visit, the CPT’s delegation also reviewed the implementation of the legal safeguards...
The Council of Europe's anti-torture Committee publishes a report on Switzerland
On the subject of law enforcement, the CPT has received a number of complaints of excessive use of force by police officers and recommends that action to prevent police violence be enhanced. The Committee considers that the practice, which was observed in two police stations visited in Vaud, of...
The Council of Europe anti-torture Committee visits Portugal
The main objective of the visit was to examine the treatment and safeguards afforded to persons detained by law enforcement agencies as well as the treatment and conditions of detention of persons held in prisons following up on the recommendations made by the CPT in its report on the 2019 visit....
The Council of Europe anti-torture Committee held high-level talks in Bulgaria
Representatives of the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) have recently returned from high-level talks in Sofia, Bulgaria. The main objective of the talks, which took place on 31 May and 1 June 2022, was to discuss...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee visits the Netherlands
In the course of the visit, the delegation assessed the treatment and safeguards afforded to persons deprived of their liberty by the police and it examined the treatment of persons in prison and their conditions of detention. The delegation also visited the extra-security facility (EBI) at Vught...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee visits Latvia
The main objective of the visit was to review the measures taken by the Latvian authorities to implement recommendations made by the Committee after its previous visits. In this context, the CPT’s delegation paid particular attention to the treatment and safeguards afforded to persons deprived of...
The Council of Europe anti-torture Committee and Development Bank held high-level talks on prison reform in North Macedonia
On 16 May 2022, the President of the European Committee for Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), Alan Mitchell, and the Vice-Governor of the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), Tomáš Boček, have met the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Dimitar...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes a report on Albania
The main objective of the visit was to examine the situation of forensic psychiatric patients and to review the progress made as regards the implementation of the CPT’s long-standing recommendation that all such patients be transferred to a proper forensic psychiatric facility. To this end, the...
Anti-torture committee calls for setting a limit to the number of inmates in every prison and promoting non-custodial measures
In this annual report, the CPT underlines that although, over the years, some countries have achieved tangible progress in tackling prison overcrowding, this problem persists in many prisons systems, especially in establishments accommodating remand prisoners. In addition, even in countries where...
Council of Europe anti-torture committee publishes report on Romania, highlighting that the challenges facing the prison system remain extensive
The CPT calls for the reform of the prison system as outlined in the updated Action Plan for the period 2020-2025 to be vigorously pursued. Improving the living conditions, offering a range of purposeful activities for prisoners to assist them in preparing for reintegration into the community,...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee carries out 12-day visit to Italy
In the course of the visit, the CPT’s delegation assessed the treatment and the conditions of detention in which persons were held in four prison establishments and it also examined the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty by law enforcement agencies. In addition, the delegation...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee visits Poland
The main objective of the visit was to review the measures taken by the Polish 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,...
Statement from the CPT President
Following the Committee of Ministers’ Resolution CM/Res(2022)2 of 16 March 2022, the Russian Federation ceased to be a member of the Council of Europe as from 16 March 2022. Resolution CM/Res(2022)3, adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 23 March 2022, further specifies, among other things,...
The Russian Federation is excluded from the Council of Europe
In an extraordinary meeting, on the morning of 16 March 2022, the Committee of Ministers decided, in the context of the procedure launched under Article 8 of the Statute of the Council of Europe, that the Russian Federation ceases to be a member of the Council of Europe as from that date, after...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes report on its 2021 periodic visit to Serbia
In the course of the visit, a significant number of credible allegations of torture and other forms of ill-treatment of detained persons by police officers were received by the CPT’s delegation. These allegations consisted of slaps, punches, kicks and truncheon blows as well as the application of...
The CPT held its first plenary meeting in 2022
The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) held its 107th plenary meeting in Strasbourg from 28 February to 4 March 2022. The meeting took place in a hybrid format with most members attending in person. During this meeting, the CPT...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes the response of the Croatian authorities to the report on the 2020 ad hoc visit on migration issues
The response has been made public at the request of the Croatian authorities following the recent high-level talks held between the President of the CPT and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior of Croatia, on 4 February 2022 in Strasbourg. Read the response: in English; in...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes the response of the Swedish authorities to the report on the 2021 visit
The response has been made public under the automatic publication procedure introduced by the Swedish authorities. The CPT's report was published in September 2021. Read the response Read the report The CPT and Sweden
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) President holds high-level talks with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior of Croatia on migration issues
The talks focussed on the implementation of the recommendations contained in the CPT’s report on the 2020 ad hoc visit to Croatia, published on 3 December 2021. The CPT’s President reiterated the necessity for the Croatian authorities to maintain a constant vigilance to ensure that migrants...
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