clearly have a key role to play in providing the type of systematic monitoring envisaged under the Protocol. The Subcommittee has carried out several country visits to date. According to the Protocol, the selection of the first group of countries was to be performed by lottery, and the Maldives, Mauritius and Sweden were visited in 2007 and early 2008. Countries selected by the Subcommittee for visits in 2008 included Benin, Mexico and Paraguay. The Subcommittee reported 23 that it could not carry out more visits due to lack of capacity and, in particular, lack of support from the Secretariat, which had also delayed the preparation of visit reports. The Subcommittee has said the criteria it will use for future selections include urgent issues reported, size and complexity of the state, regional preventive monitoring and date of ratification/development of an NPM. The UN Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture released its first annual report in May 2008. The report identified a lack of financial and human resources as a serious obstacle to effective activity and, in particular, to the work expected to be carried out under the Protocol with NPMs. “… the Subcommittee considers that the current budget does not adequately cover the expenditure necessary for it to implement fully the Optional Protocol, and that it has not been provided with the staff, facilities and other resources necessary for the effective performance of its functions, as defined by the Optional Protocol. The Subcommittee consequently considers that it is not yet in a position to fulfil its mandate.” 24 The Subcommittee is currently making use of its visits to develop contact with NPMs, but does not have a budget to support NPMs as mandated under the Protocol. 4.2 OPCAT in the OSCE area OPCAT has been the focus of much activity in OSCE participating States in all of the regions under consideration. It is notable that OSCE participating States were urged to give early consideration to signing and ratifying the Protocol in a Ministerial Council Decision. 25 The current status of signature and ratification of OPCAT by OSCE participating States is provided below. Ibid. Ibid. 25 MC.DEC/12/05 of 6 December 2005 23 24 33