CPT: 9TH GENERAL REPORT 9 Meetings Publications 7. The CPT held three plenary sessions during 1998, in the course of which twelve visit reports were adopted: on visits to Albania, Belgium, the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles, Turkey and the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man in 1997, and to Andorra, Germany (Frankfurt Airport), Iceland, Sweden, “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” and Ukraine in 1998. On the whole, the Committee has been meeting its objective of transmitting to Governments the reports on periodic visits within approximately six months; however, the time lag of four months between plenary sessions sometimes renders it difficult to meet this objective. As regards reports on short ad hoc visits, they are sometimes transmitted within a much shorter period (three months). 10. In the course of 1998, the CPT's reports on visits to Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Spain were published at the request of the Governments concerned, as were several interim and follow-up responses of Governments. The CPT also welcomes the decision of the Turkish authorities to authorise publication, in February 1999, of the report drawn up by the Committee after its periodic visit to Turkey in October 1997. 8. The CPT continues to seek ways to enhance the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of its procedures, and in particular the functioning of plenary sessions. Most recently, the period of time during which the full Committee meets together during a plenary session has been reduced to four days, freeing up more time for work by visiting delegations and various other subgroups of the Committee within the framework of a “plenary session”. This trend, which has been made possible by the recently-introduced expedited procedures for the adoption of visit reports, can be expected to continue. 11. All visit reports which have been published, as well as the CPT's general reports, are now accessible via the Internet (http://www.cpt.coe.fr); published responses by Governments are also accessible provided that they have been forwarded to the CPT in electronic format. The CPT's web site also contains information on recent developments, such as new signatures and ratifications of the Convention and its Protocols, visits which have recently been carried out (indicating the composition of the delegation and establishments visited) and updated lists of the names and abridged curricula vitae of the Committee's members. The Committee is currently reflecting upon the possibility of working in chambers, in particular when examining draft visit reports. Although chambers are not foreseen by the Convention, the CPT can see no legal impediment to the introduction of such a measure via its Rules of Procedure, always provided that its visit reports continue to be formally adopted by the full Committee sitting at plenary level. 12. During the year, the activities of the CPT received increasing attention in both the mass media and academic journals. Reference should also be made to the publication of Preventing Torture (Oxford: Clarendon Press) by Malcolm Evans and Rod Morgan, a book which contains the most comprehensive analysis to date of the CPT’s work. Further, the second volume of the Yearbook of the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (covering 1993) has now been published.2 9. Reference should also be made to the CPT’s meeting with its liaison officers (cf Article 15 of the Convention) on 13 March 1998 in Strasbourg. This provided a useful forum for a frank, face-to-face exchange of views on matters of mutual concern. In addition to a detailed examination of the role of the liaison officer, topics discussed included the approach to be followed when specific allegations of ill-treatment are received during a visit, ad hoc visits at the invitation of a State, enlivening the ongoing dialogue between visits, financing the implementation of the CPT’s recommendations, and relations with the media. At the time of writing, 58 of the 83 visit reports drawn up by the CPT have been published. Many of the remaining 25 visit reports have only recently been forwarded to Governments and will in all likelihood be published in due course. 2 The Yearbook may be ordered directly from: Human Rights Law Centre, Department of Law, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, United Kingdom.