Introduction 5 With these compromises, the Convention against Torture was unanimously adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1984.19 When the Convention was opened for signature on 5 February 1985, a total of twenty States, including twelve member States of the Council of Europe, had already signed it. The Convention entered into force on 26 June 1987, exactly thirty days after the date of deposit of the twentieth instrument of ratification.20 Since the required number of five optional declarations in accordance with Articles 21(2) and 22(8) CAT had already been achieved at an earlier stage, the individual and inter-​State complaints procedures entered into force on 26 June 1987 as well.21 On 26 November 1987, the States parties to the Convention elected the first ten members of the Committee against Torture,22 which held its first session in Geneva from 18 to 22 April 1988.23 As of 31 December 2017, the Convention against Torture has been ratified or acceded to by a total of 162 States from all regions of the world.24 Of these 162 States parties, sixty-​three have made the optional declaration under Article 21(1) recognizing the inter-​State complaints procedure, and sixty-​nine States parties have made the optional declaration under Article 22(1) recognizing the individual complaints procedure.25 Since the adoption of the Convention, twenty-​six States parties have availed themselves of the ‘opting out’ possibility under Article 28 in relation to the inquiry procedure under Article 20, some of which withdrew this reservation later. Presently, only fourteen of the 162 States have opted out, which means that a total of 148 States parties have in fact accepted this additional monitoring procedure.26 Finally, thirty-​three States parties have over time availed themselves of the ‘opting out’ possibility under Article 30(2) in relation to the dispute settlement procedure and the competence of the ICJ under Article 30(1), but again some have withdrawn their reservation, and presently there are twenty-​four States parties that have opted out.27 The Costa Rica draft Optional Protocol aimed at establishing a system of preventive visits to places of detention was not taken up during the drafting of the CAT. During the Cold War, the competence of an international monitoring body to carry out preventive and unannounced missions and visits to the territory of States parties was politically simply unacceptable and regarded as undue interference with State sovereignty. But the Council of Europe took up this idea of Jean-​Jacques Gautier, actively supported by the Swiss Committee against Torture (which later became the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT)) and the International Commission of Jurists, and adopted the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture (ECPT) in 1987.28 After the entry into force of this innovative Convention on 1 February 1989, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) was established, consisting of one independent expert per State party (presently forty-​seven), with the task of organizing missions to the territory of States parties, conducting unannounced visits to places of detention and carrying out private interviews with detainees. In practice, the missions and visits of the CPT and its 20   GA Res 39/​46 of 10 December 1984.   See below Art 27. 22   See below Art 21, § 41; Art 22, § 17.   CAT/​SP/​SR.1. See below Art 17. 23   CAT, ‘Report of the Committee Against Torture’ (1988) UN Doc A/​43/​46; cf Manfred Nowak, ‘First session of the UN Committee against Torture’ (1988) 2 NQHR 111. See below Art 18. 24   See below Art 25, § 11; Art 26, 3; as well as Appendix A3. 25   See below Art 21, §§ 2, 18; Art 22, §§ 4, 15; as well as Appendix A3. 26   See below Art 28, §§ 2, 14; as well as Appendix A3. 27   See below Art 30, §§ 2, 15; as well as Appendix A3. 28   The ECPT (ETS No 126) was opened for signature on 26 November 1987. 19 21