8 CPT: 13TH GENERAL REPORT ACTIVITIES DURING THE PERIOD 1 JANUARY 2002 TO 31 JULY 2003 Visits 1. The CPT organised twenty visits totalling 168 days in 2002, divided between twelve periodic (122 days) and eight ad hoc (46 days) visits1. As the CPT made clear in the 12th General Report, in view of the absence of any further reinforcement of the Committee’s Secretariat, it was obliged to limit the visit programme in 2002 to a maximum of 170 days, despite having received appropriations for 180 days. The ceiling of 170 visit days remains in place in 2003. Nevertheless, the current year will see the CPT make considerable progress towards its declared aim of achieving a balance between periodic and ad hoc visits. The programme of periodic visits will amount to some 100 days (covering 10 visits), the remaining 70 days being used for up to a dozen ad hoc visits. As at 31 July 2003, five periodic visits and eight ad hoc visits had already been organised1. The CPT remains hopeful that in 2004 it will be possible to move closer to the long-standing target of 200 visit days per year (cf. paragraph 26); this is the volume of visit days required to cope effectively with the workload generated by up to 45 Parties to the Convention. 2. The 2002 programme of periodic visits was marked by the CPT’s first visits to Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the 2003 programme by the first visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The CPT welcomes the very good level of cooperation received by its visiting delegations in each of these countries. The organisation, prior to the visits, of two-day seminars in Baku, Sarajevo and Yerevan concerning the CPT’s mandate and activities undoubtedly contributed to this positive situation. 1 The countries and places of detention visited are set out in Appendix 6. 3. The full lists of countries which received periodic visits in 2002 and, to date, in 2003 are as follows, in chronological order: 2002 – Denmark; the Netherlands (Kingdom in Europe and Netherlands Antilles); Bulgaria; the Czech Republic; Ireland; Romania; Latvia; Armenia; “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”; Azerbaijan; Ukraine; 2003 – Sweden; Luxembourg; Bosnia and Herzegovina; the United Kingdom; Spain. (Further periodic visits will be carried out in 2003 to the following countries, listed in alphabetical order: Croatia; Estonia; Finland; Georgia; Portugal.) 4. The 16 ad hoc visits carried out by the CPT during the period covered by this General Report concerned ten countries: Albania; France (two visits); Hungary; Moldova; Portugal; Romania; Russia (four visits); “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”; Turkey (three visits); and the United Kingdom. Most of these visits were organised in order to verify the implementation in practice of recommendations previously made by the CPT concerning issues of particular importance. Others were triggered by new developments in areas covered by the Committee’s mandate or by reports received concerning the situation of persons deprived of their liberty. 5. The CPT carried out three ad hoc visits to the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation during 2002 and the first half of 2003 (making a total of six visits in the last three and a half years). Further, at the CPT’s request, high-level talks were held in Moscow in December 2002, aimed at strengthening the dialogue between the Russian authorities and the Committee on matters relating to the situation in the Chechen Republic. Reference should also be made to meetings which the President of the CPT had in January and May 2003 with the Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for ensuring human and civil rights and freedoms in the Chechen Republic, Mr Abdul-Khakim SULTYGOV.