Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture announces its Programme of Field visits for 2013

Geneva, 16 November 2012 – The United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (SPT) concluded on Friday its eighteenth session and announced its provisional programme of country visits for the year 2013.

The SPT will conduct six country visits in 2013. The States parties to be visited are Armenia, Germany, New Zealand, Peru and Togo. In the case of Armenia and Germany, the SPT missions will focus on the National Preventive Mechanisms (NPMs), with the aim to advise and assist them, as well as to strengthen their capacity and mandate for the prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment as provided for under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture. In addition, the SPT intends to conduct a follow up visit to one of the countries it has already visited.