Background to the second JeanJacques Gautier Symposium This symposium was the second in a series of annual meetings to allow NPM and other experts to share their knowledge and practices with regard to situations of vulnerability in detention.1 In tribute to Jean-Jacques Gautier, the founder of APT, this series of meetings aims to strengthen the capacity of NPMs to fulfil their mandate to prevent torture in the most effective manner possible. To this end, the meetings provide a platform for peer exchanges and interaction with other experts on the specific issues raised by situations of vulnerability in detention. APT decided to devote this second Jean-Jacques Gautier Symposium to the role that preventive bodies play or can play in response to situations of specific vulnerabilities faced by LGBT persons deprived of their liberty. The symposium was designed as a working meeting to encourage the greatest possible exchange between participants. This sharing of experiences from different regions of the world within a meeting format built around short presentations followed by a lively debate animated by a moderator was extremely rewarding and led to intense interaction in an informal and open atmosphere. The Optional United Nations Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT), which entered into force in 2006, creates an independent system of monitoring places of deprivation of liberty both internationally through the United Nations Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture (SPT) and at national level via NPMs. At the time of writing this report, 80 States from all regions of the world had become parties to OPCAT and 62 of them had officially designated an NPM, though some are not yet operational and a number of others have yet to fully meet certain key OPCAT criteria. Beyond their structural differences or the geographical, political 1 The first symposium took place in June 2014 and focused on the issue of children deprived of their liberty. The report on that two-day meeting is available at: http:// www.apt.ch/en/resources/addressing-children’s-vulnerabilities-in-detention-jeanjacques-gautier-npm-symposium-2014-outcome-report/?cat=61 1