CAT/C/44/2* representatives of States parties to be visited, and adopting visit reports. Considerable attention was given to strategic planning and selection of countries for future visits. 79. The sessions also involved examination and discussion of information relating to States parties and national preventive mechanisms and planning of delegations’ field activities, as well as meetings with representatives of bodies within the United Nations and from other organizations active in the field of prevention of ill-treatment, and refinement of a series of materials designed to provide basic information about the Subcommittee. 80. In 2009 Ms. Silvia Casale and Mr. Leopoldo Torres Boursault resigned as members of the Subcommittee. The Subcommittee wishes to express its gratitude for and recognition of the work of these two members, who made a key contribution during the first two years of the Subcommittee’s existence. B. Overall assessment 81. During the reporting period, the Subcommittee has made significant progress. It has developed rules, working practices and methods and guidelines on carrying out and institutionalizing its activities under its mandate, particularly visits in the field, where it has built on the experience gained in the eight carried out thus far. It has adopted creative working methods that prioritize efficient use and leverage of the limited resources allocated to it in its first biennium of operation. 82. The Subcommittee has also developed provisional guidelines on the establishment of national mechanisms for the prevention of torture and is working on analytical tools to evaluate the work of those mechanisms. Lastly, it has launched an open debate on the scope and definition of the concept of prevention of torture, which is closely bound up with its mandate. C. Challenges 83. Despite the heavy workload of members of the Subcommittee and its secretariat, and the inadequacy of financial resources to fully discharge its mandate, the Subcommittee has set a steady course that has already taken it a good way towards the goal of a focused mandate on the prevention of torture, based on collaboration and cooperation, and assistance to the States parties to the Optional Protocol. 84. Yet, with the increase in membership of the Subcommittee from 10 to 25 in the coming year, and given that its mandate is not like that of other treaty bodies, it is essential for the Subcommittee to have budget support from the Organization to enable it to discharge its mandate in a comprehensive, sustained and effective manner. Expansion should not only entail an increase in the budget, which will be required for regular sessions of a larger Subcommittee but should above all allow as many field visits as possible, visits being ultimately the main instrument for prevention of torture at the Subcommittee's disposal. 85. The Subcommittee understands that its mandate has to be carried out with limited resources, and it undertakes to optimize the resources allocated in order to conduct the maximum number of field visits with delegations comprising the minimum number of members commensurate with the requirements and profiles of the countries to be visited. In addition, the Subcommittee will discharge its mandate with the same enthusiasm and interest it has shown since its inception, including participation in activities within its sphere of competence that do not receive financial support from the Organization. In such a 20 GE.10-41876