The Committee intends to examine the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty in the following countries:

• Armenia
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Denmark
• France
• Greece
• Iceland
• Ireland
• “The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”

Persons in possession of information concerning deprivation of liberty in any of these countries which they believe could assist the CPT are invited to bring it to the Committee’s attention.

The CPT will also organise ad hoc visits in 2019 whenever it considers this is required by the circumstances.

In the past, the CPT carried out ten periodic visits per year. Since 2018, the Committee has reduced the number of periodic visits to eight in order to increase its capacity to carry out ad hoc visits.

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The CPT organises visits to places of deprivation of liberty in the Council of Europe’s 47 member states in order to assess how detained persons are treated. Places visited include prisons, juvenile detention centres, police stations, holding centres for immigration detainees, psychiatric hospitals, social care homes, etc.

CPT delegations have unlimited access to places of deprivation of liberty, and the right to move inside such places without restriction. They interview detained persons in private, and may enter into contact with anyone else who may be able to provide relevant information.

After each visit, the CPT sends a confidential report containing its findings and recommendations to the state concerned. This constitutes the basis for a dialogue between the CPT and the national authorities in order to strengthen the protection of detained persons from ill-treatment.