News


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,...
Il Comitato anti-tortura del Consiglio d'Europa effettua una visita di 12 giorni in Italia
Nel corso della visita, la delegazione del CPT ha valutato il trattamento e le condizioni di detenzione dei detenuti presso quattro istituti penitenziari ed ha anche considerato il trattamento delle persone private della libertà dalle forze dell'ordine. Inoltre, la delegazione ha esaminato le...
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...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee visits Lithuania
The main objective of the visit was to examine the treatment and conditions of detention of persons held in police and prison establishments as well as of foreign nationals detained under aliens legislation. The delegation also reviewed the legal safeguards offered to involuntary psychiatric...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee visits Austria
The delegation examined the treatment and conditions of detention of persons held in several prisons. It also assessed the situation of persons subjected to the court‑imposed measure of involuntary forensic placement (Massnahmenvollzug) and of involuntary patients in a civil psychiatric hospital....
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee carries out visit to 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, in particularly regarding overcrowding and poor conditions of detention, inter-prisoner...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes report on its 2020 ad hoc visit to Croatia
In a report on Croatia published today, the CPT urges the Croatian authorities to take determined action to stop migrants being ill-treated by police officers and to ensure that cases of alleged ill-treatment are investigated effectively. The Committee carried out a rapid reaction visit to...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee visits Albania and holds high-level talks with the Albanian authorities
The main objective of the visit was to review the progress made as regards the implementation of the CPT’s long-standing recommendation that all forensic psychiatric patients be transferred to a proper forensic psychiatric facility. To this end, the CPT’s delegation visited Zaharia Special...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) visits Belgium
The delegation visited Antwerp, Lantin, St-Gilles and Ypres Prisons and paid particular attention to issues such as material conditions, overcrowding, activities, health-care services (including the situation in psychiatric annexes), staff - especially in the context of prison staff strikes and...
Anti-torture Committee publishes 2020 visit report on police and prisons in Spain
The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) has published today the report on its periodic to Spain, which took place from 14 to 28 September 2020, together with the response of the Spanish authorities. In the course of...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee issues public statement on Bulgaria
The Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) has issued a public statement on Bulgaria today. This Statement, which is made in application of Article 10 (2) of the Convention establishing the Committee,[1] addresses the...
The CPT holds its October 2021 plenary meeting
During this meeting, the CPT adopted the reports on its periodic visits to Switzerland (March/April 2021) and the United Kingdom (June 2021) as well as on its ad hoc visits to Georgia and Romania (both in May 2021). These reports will be sent in due course to the respective Governments.[1] The...
In remembrance of our dear colleague Patrick Müller
Patrick sadly passed away on 14 October 2021. He joined the CPT Secretariat in 1996, working in the field of information management and documentation and acting as the focal point for CPT contacts with the media. More recently, he also participated in CPT visits, contributing to the Committee’s...
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 were held in an open and constructive atmosphere, focusing on the challenges facing Croatia to manage its extensive land borders and the migration flows into the country. There was mutual recognition that there has to be a coordinated European approach to managing the entry of large...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee visits Bulgaria
The main objective of the visit was to review the measures taken by the Bulgarian 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...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee carries out a 15-day visit to the Russian Federation
In the course of the visit, particular attention was paid to the treatment and conditions of detention of persons in police custody and penitentiary establishments, including remand prisoners and sentenced female and male prisoners in correctional colonies. Further, the delegation examined the...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee carries out visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina focussed on law enforcement agencies
The primary focus of the visit was to examine the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty by police agencies at the State, Entity and Cantonal levels. The treatment and conditions of detention of remand prisoners held in several prison establishments were also examined. Further, the CPT’s...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes the response of the Finnish authorities to the report on the 2020 visit
The response to paragraphs 122 and 126 of the report was received in June 2021, the full response in September 2021. Both have been made public under the automatic publication procedure introduced by the Finnish authorities. The CPT's report was published in May 2021. Read the response in English...
The CPT publishes report on Kosovo*
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 civil and forensic psychiatric patients and residents in a social...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes report on its 2019 visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina
The report states that the CPT’s delegation received numerous allegations of physical and psychological ill-treatment of detained persons by law enforcement officials within the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH). The severity of the alleged ill-treatment (e.g., falaka, rape with a...
The CPT publishes report on Sweden
The main objective of the visit was to review the measures taken by the Swedish authorities in response to the recommendations made by the Committee after previous visits. For this purpose, the delegation visited six police detention facilities (in Avesta, Malmö, Stockholm – Norrmalm, Södermalm...
CPT participates in webinar to examine Scotland’s progress in preventing ill-treatment in places of detention
On 25 August 2021, the CPT’s President, Alan Mitchell, and the Head of delegation for the CPT’s visits to Scotland (United Kingdom) in 2018 and 2019, Julia Kozma, participated in a webinar with criminal justice practitioners and academics to discuss a report by the Scottish subgroup of the UK...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee announces periodic visits to eight countries in 2022
The Committee intends to examine the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty in the following countries: Croatia Estonia Italy Netherlands Poland Portugal San Marino Ukraine Persons and organisations in possession of relevant information concerning the situation of persons deprived of...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes report on its 2020 visit to North Macedonia
The main objective of the visit was to the examine the treatment and conditions of detention of prisoners held at Idrizovo and Skopje Prisons as well as of persons detained by the police in the Skopje area. The visit also included talks with the Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and the Minister of...
105th plenary meeting of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT)
During the session, the Committee adopted the reports on its periodic visits to Azerbaijan (December 2020), Germany (December 2020), Serbia (March 2021), Sweden (January 2021) and Turkey (January 2021). These reports will be transmitted in due course to the respective national authorities. In...
France: anti-torture Committee deplores conditions of detention, prison overcrowding and lack of psychiatric beds
As regards police establishments, while the majority of those interviewed did not report any physical ill-treatment, several people indicated that they had been deliberately beaten during their arrest or on police premises. Allegations of insults, including of a racist or homophobic nature, were...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee visits the United Kingdom
In the course of the visit, the delegation examined the treatment of persons held in prisons in England. Particular attention was paid to the impact of the restrictions imposed in the context of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, safety and violence in prisons, situation of female prisoners and the...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes 5th periodic visit report on Armenia
The CPT has today published a report on its fifth periodic visit to Armenia, which took place from 2 to 12 December 2019, together with the response of the Armenian Government. Both documents have been made public at the request of the Armenian authorities. The Committee notes that the great...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) visits Georgia and holds high-level talks with the Minister of Justice on the situation in semi-open penitentiary establishments
The delegation visited all three such establishments in the country: Prison No. 14 in Geguti, Prison No. 15 in Ksani and Prison No. 17 in Rustavi. Further, the delegation went to the closed-type Prison No. 2 in Kutaisi and to the secure ward of Vivamed clinic in Tbilisi in order to interview...
The Council of Europe anti-torture Committee visits prisons and police arrest detention centres in Romania
The purpose of the ad hoc visit was to examine the treatment of persons held in prison and police establishments, and to evaluate the measures taken by the Romanian authorities to improve the situation since the Committee’s February 2018 visit. To this end, the CPT’s delegation visited four...
Anti-torture Committee publishes report on Monaco
The CPT received no allegations of ill-treatment and many persons deprived of their liberty said that they had been treated with respect by law enforcement officials, prison and hospital staff. On the whole, the report notes that the fundamental safeguards against ill-treatment in custody were in...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes report on its 2019 visit to North Macedonia
The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) has published today the report on its 5th periodic visit to North Macedonia conducted from 2 to 12 December 2019 together with the response from the authorities. The CPT’s...
Anti-torture committee warns against the impact of austerity measures on the conditions of detention in prisons
In its annual report for 2020, the CPT recalls that in many of its visits over the years it has found a failure to meet the basic needs of prisoners in certain establishments, which could lead to situations in which prisoners are exposed to inhuman and degrading treatment. The Committee points...
The CPT publishes report on Finland
The main objective of the visit was to review the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty by the police and in immigration detention, as well as the situation of prisoners. The delegation further carried out visits to two State Residential Schools and to the psychiatric units of Helsinki...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes Moldovan response to the report on the 2020 visit
The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) published today the response of the Moldovan authorities to the report on the Committee’s periodic visit to the Republic of Moldova, which took place from 28 January to 7...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee carries out an 11-day visit to Switzerland
The aim of the visit was to examine the treatment and conditions of detention of persons deprived of their liberty in seven cantons of the Swiss Confederation. Particular attention was paid to the situation of persons deprived of their liberty by the police, persons held in remand detention or...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee carries out 11-day visit to Serbia
In the course of the visit, the CPT’s delegation examined the treatment and safeguards afforded to persons detained by law enforcement agencies. It also looked into the treatment and conditions of detention of persons held in three prison establishments, both on remand and sentenced. A further...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes Ukrainian response to the report on the 2020 visit
The response has been made public under an automatic publication procedure introduced by the Ukrainian authorities. The CPT's report was published in December 2020. Read the response Read the report The CPT and Ukraine
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes Bulgarian response to the report on the 2020 ad hoc visit
In the report the CPT had made recommendations on the treatment of patients in psychiatric hospitals and residents of social care institutions. The response has been made public under an automatic publication procedure introduced by the Bulgarian authorities in 2015. Read the response in English,...

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