investigations, prosecutions and disciplinary sentences and redress offered to victims; (o) Disseminate the Committee’s conclusions and recommendations widely in the State party in all appropriate languages. 140. The Committee requests the State party to provide responses to the questions asked by its members by 31 August 2003. 141. The State party is invited to submit its next periodic report, which will be considered as the second, by 27 December 2004. IV.ACTIVITIES OF THE COMMITTEE UNDER ARTICLE 20 OF THE CONVENTION A. General information 142.In accordance with article 20, paragraph 1, of the Convention, if the Committee receives reliable information which appears to it to contain well-founded indications that torture is being systematically practised in the territory of a State party, the Committee shall invite that State party to cooperate in the examination of the information and, to this end, to submit observations with regard to the information concerned. 143.In accordance with rule 69 of the Committee’s rules of procedure, the Secretary General shall bring to the attention of the Committee information which is, or appears to be, submitted for the Committee’s consideration under article 20, paragraph 1, of the Convention. 144.No information shall be received by the Committee if it concerns a State party which, in accordance with article 28, paragraph 1, of the Convention, declared at the time of ratification of or accession to the Convention that it did not recognize the competence of the Committee provided for in article 20, unless that State party has subsequently withdrawn its reservation in accordance with article 28, paragraph 2, of the Convention. 145.The Committee’s work under article 20 of the Convention continued during the period under review. In accordance with the provisions of article 20 and rules 72 and 73 of the rules of procedure, all documents and proceedings of the Committee relating to its functions under article 20 of the Convention are confidential and all the meetings concerning its proceedings under that article are closed. 146.However, in accordance with article 20, paragraph 5 of the Convention, the Committee may after consultations with the State party concerned decide to include a summary account of the results of the proceedings in its annual report to the States parties and to the General Assembly. Such a summary account is herewith provided in connection with Mexico. B.Summary account of the results of the proceedingsconcerning the inquiry on Mexico 147.Mexico ratified the Convention on 23 January 1986. At the time of ratification it did not declare that it did not recognize the competence of the Committee provided for in article 20 of the Convention. Accordingly, the procedure under article 20 is applicable to Mexico. 148.In October 1998, the Committee received from the Human Rights Centre Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez (PRODH), a nongovernmental organization based in Mexico City, a report entitled “Torture: Institutionalized Violence in Mexico, April 1997September 1998”. The report contained an appeal to the Committee to undertake an investigation pursuant to article 20 of the Convention. Upon examination, the Committee considered that the information submitted by PRODH was reliable and contained well founded indications that torture was being systematically practised in Mexico. In accordance with article 20, paragraph 1, of the Convention and rule 76 of its rules of procedure, the Committee requested the Government of Mexico to cooperate in the examination of, and comment on the information in question. 149.During its twenty second session (May 1999), the Committee designated two of its members, Alejandro González Poblete and Antonio Silva Henriques Gaspar, to examine the Government’s reply. Following their examination the Committee decided, at the same session, to undertake a confidential inquiry in accordance with article 20, paragraph 2, of the Convention and rule 78 of its rules of procedure, and designated the two above-mentioned members for the purpose. It also decided to invite the Government of Mexico, in accordance with article 20, paragraph 3, of the Convention and rule 79 of its rules of procedure, to cooperate with the Committee in the conduct of the inquiry. Lastly, it decided to request the Government of Mexico, pursuant to article 20, paragraph 3, of the Convention and rule 80 of its rules of procedure, to agree to a visit to the country by Committee members. 150.On 30 January 2001, the Government invited the Committee members to visit the country. The visit took place from 23 August to 12 September 2001. The Committee had in the interim designated Ole Vedel Rasmussen to be a third member of the visiting team. In the end, Silva Henriques Gaspar was prevented by personal reasons from taking part in the visit. 151.The two designated members submitted their report at the twenty-eighth session of the Committee (April/May 2002). They noted that the number of complaints of torture referred to Mexican public human rights bodies and NGOs appeared to have declined. However, the information collected in the course of the procedure under article 20, which had not been refuted by the Government; the description of the torture cases reported to them, mainly by the victims themselves; the similarity of circumstances in which the cases occurred; the purpose of the torture, which was nearly always to obtain information or a self-incriminating confession; the similarity of the methods employed; and the fact that such methods were widespread all convinced the Committee members that these were not exceptional situations or occasional violations committed by a few police officers. On the contrary, the police commonly used torture and resorted to it on a systematic basis as a method of criminal investigation, readily available whenever required in order