CPT: 11TH GENERAL REPORT 11 ORGANISATIONAL ISSUES The Convention and its Protocols CPT membership 18. The Convention (and its two Protocols) were ratified by the Republic of Georgia on 20 June 2000. Consequently, at that time the CPT's field of operations once again encompassed all member States of the Council of Europe.3 Subsequently, in January 2001, Armenia and Azerbaijan became members of the Organisation; they gave a commitment to ratify the Convention within a one-year delay. 20. Eight new CPT members took up office in 2000: Mr Antoni ALEIX CAMP (in respect of Andorra), Ms Ioanna BABASSIKA (Greece), Mr Mario FELICE (Malta), Mr Eugenijus GEFENAS (Lithuania), Mr Pétur HAUKSSON (Iceland), Ms Anhelita KAMENSKA (Latvia), Mr Marc NÈVE (Belgium) and Mr Mauro PALMA (Italy). Further, Mr Zdenek HÁJEK was re-elected (in respect of the Czech Republic). 19. Following ratifications of Protocols Nos. 1 and 24 by Georgia on 20 June 2000, by Andorra on 13 July 2000 and by Croatia on 4 November 2000, only one more ratification (by Ukraine) is required for the entry into force of these instruments.5 The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe recently expressed regret that neither of the Protocols had yet entered into force.6 The CPT fully shares that sense of frustration. This delay is particularly serious as regards Protocol No. 1: it means that States such as Bosnia and Herzegovina (which is bound under its Constitution to ratify the Convention) and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (whose Government has decided to accede to the Convention) are prevented from cooperating with the CPT; it also means that the possibility to invite a State such as Belarus to accede to the Convention is blocked. The CPT very much hopes that the one remaining ratification which is needed for the entry into force of both Protocols will soon be obtained. 3 4 5 6 The state of signatures and ratifications of the Convention is set out in Appendix 1 A; the CPT's field of operations is illustrated in Appendix 1 B. Protocol N°. 1 "opens" the Convention by providing that the Committee of Ministers may invite any non-member State of the Council of Europe to accede to it; Protocol No. 2 introduces amendments regarding the renewal of the CPT's membership and provides that members may be reelected twice. See Appendix 1 C for the state of signatures and ratifications of Protocols Nos. 1 and 2. See Assembly Resolution 1248 (2001), adopted on 23 May 2001. Moreover, since the beginning of 2001, Mr Erik SVANIDZE has been elected (in respect of Georgia) and Ms Emilia DRUMEVA and Mr Pierre SCHMIT have been re-elected (in respect of Bulgaria and Luxembourg). At the time of publication of this report, the CPT has 37 members.7 The seats in respect of Hungary, Liechtenstein, Spain and Sweden are currently vacant. 21. During its meeting in March 2000, the CPT elected a new Bureau for a period of two years. The Committee elected Ms Silvia CASALE (a British criminologist) as President, renewed the post of Ms Ingrid LYCKE ELLINGSEN (a Norwegian psychiatrist) as First Vice-President, and elected Mr Volodymyr YEVINTOV (a Ukrainian lawyer) as Second Vice President. 22. In the course of 2000 and to date in 2001, the following members of the CPT have left the Committee, either on the expiry of their term of office or following their resignation: Mr Jon BJARMAN (elected in respect of Iceland), Ms Christina DOCTARE (Sweden), Mr Lambert KELCHTERMANS (Belgium), Mr Miklos MAGYAR (Hungary), Mr Arnold OEHRY (Liechtenstein), Ms Maria SCIBERRAS (Malta) and Mr Leopoldo TORRES BOURSAULT (Spain). The CPT wishes to place on record its gratitude for their contributions to the Committee's work. 7 See Appendix 2 A for the full list of CPT members. Abridged curricula vitae of the members can be obtained from the CPT's Secretariat and are posted on its website (http://www.cpt.coe.int).