European Convention for the Prevention of Torture opened to non-member States of the Council of Europe

Strasbourg, 08.11.2001 - Protocol No. 1 to the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment has just been ratified by Ukraine. Oleksandr CHALY, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the Council of Europe, handed the instrument of ratification to Walter SCHWIMMER, Secretary General of the Council of Europe.

With this ratification, all States Parties to the Convention have ratified Protocol No. 1, which will now enter into force (*). Protocol No. 1 empowers the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to invite any non-member State to accede to the Convention; no geographical limits to this power of invitation are foreseen in the Protocol. A new stage in the expansion of the field of operations of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), the control mechanism established by the Convention, can now begin.

Ukraine has also ratified Protocol No. 2, thereby permitting the entry into force of several amendments to the Convention concerning the membership of the CPT. In particular, it will now be possible for Committee members to be re-elected twice, as opposed to once in the past, their possible maximum term of office increasing from eight to twelve years.

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The CPT’s task is to examine the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty. For this purpose, it is entitled to visit any place where such persons are held by a public authority and to interview those persons in private. The CPT may formulate recommendations to strengthen, if necessary, their protection against torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

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Further information about the CPT may be obtained from:

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