CAT/C/42/2 page 8 membership to 25.11 With 62 signatories to the OPCAT and the process of ratification well underway in some cases, the SPT trusts that plans for provision for that contingency are in hand. To that end, the SPT has prepared for the OHCHR detailed justified budgetary calculations for its future work (see section VI below). 19. As part of the planning process, the SPT requests information from the State party to be visited concerning the legislation and institutional and system features related to deprivation of liberty, as well as statistical and other information concerning their operation in practice. The SPT is grateful to the two interns, each working for a six-month period, who prepared the country briefs concerning the States parties to be visited in the period covered by the present report. The country briefs contain a wealth of up-to-date, relevant information, presented in an analytical framework devised by the SPT and draw on materials from other United Nations bodies, other international treaty bodies, national human rights institutions, non-governmental organizations and individual communications. B. Visits carried out from April 2008 through March 2009 20. The SPT carried out visits to Benin in May 2008, to Mexico in August/September 2008 and to Paraguay in March 2009. During these visits, the delegations focused on the development process of the national preventive mechanisms and on the situation as far as protection of people held in various types of places of deprivation of liberty is concerned.12 21. In early 2009, the SPT announced its forthcoming programme of work in the field for the year, including visits to Paraguay, Honduras and Cambodia and in-country engagement in Estonia. The SPT also carried out preliminary missions shortly before the planned regular visits to Mexico and Paraguay to initiate the process of dialogue with the authorities. The preliminary meetings proved to be an important part of preparation for the visits, representing an opportunity to fine-tune the programme and enhance facilitation of the work of the delegation. Preliminary missions form an integral part of the work involved in SPT visits. 22. During visits, SPT delegations have engaged in empirical fact-finding and discussions with a wide range of interlocutors, including officials of the ministries concerned with deprivation of liberty and with other government institutions, other State authorities such as judicial or prosecutorial authorities, relevant national human rights institutions, professional bodies and representatives of civil society. If the national preventive mechanisms are already in existence, they are important interlocutors for the SPT. SPT delegations have carried out unannounced visits to places of deprivation of liberty and have had interviews in private with persons deprived of their liberty. They also engaged in discussions with staff working in custodial settings and, in the case of the police, also with those working in the investigation process. 11 In accordance with article 5, paragraph 1 of OPCAT. 12 For details of the places visited, see annex III.