Press Release - SubCommittee on Prevention of Torture announces its Programme of Field visits for 2012

Geneva, 18 November 2011 – The United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (SPT) concluded today its fifteenth session and announced its provisional programme of country visits for the year 2012.

The SPT will conduct six country visits in 2012. The States parties to be visited are Argentina, Gabon, Honduras, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, and Senegal. In the case of Honduras, Republic of Moldova and Senegal, the SPT will principally address issues regarding National Preventive Mechanisms (NPMs), as provided for under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT).

The visiting programme for 2012 reflects the SPT’s endeavour to move towards greater effectiveness. The SPT intends to use its visiting mandate in a creative way, by tailoring visits to focus on particular elements of its mandate, when it considers it appropriate to do so. This should enable the SPT to be more efficient, and to engage with a greater number of States parties.

For further information on the SPT, please consult the website: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/opcat/