12 CPT: 15TH GENERAL REPORT CPT membership 31. Two new CPT members took up office during the twelve months covered by this General Report: Ms Olivera VULIĆ (in respect of Serbia and Montenegro) and Mr Vitolds ZAHARS (Latvia). Further, the following members were re-elected: Mr Fatmir BRAKA (Albania), Mr Zdeněk HÁJEK (Czech Republic), Mr Pétur HAUKSSON (Iceland) and Mr Mauro PALMA (Italy). The following members of the CPT left the Committee during the last twelve months, on the expiry of their terms of office: Ms Ioanna BABASSIKA (Greece), Ms Emilia DRUMEVA (Bulgaria), Ms Anhelita KAMENSKA (Latvia) and Mr Eric SVANIDZE (Georgia). The CPT wishes to place on record its gratitude to the above persons for their contributions to the Committee’s work. 32. At the time of publication of this General Report, the CPT has 37 members. The seats in respect of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, the Russian Federation, the Slovak Republic and Ukraine are currently vacant. 33. Following the entry into force on 1 March 2002 of Protocol No. 2 to the Convention, a system for electing members for half of the seats on the CPT once every two years has been progressively introduced ; this system was described in detail in the 12th General Report (cf. CPT/Inf (2002) 15, paragraph 22). As is clear from Appendix 5, this process is now close to completion. Instead of expiry dates for seats of the Committee occurring at various dates, the expiry of half of all members’ terms is now concentrated on 19 December of every second year. At the same time, the fact that CPT members can now be re-elected twice (another change introduced by Protocol No. 2) will no doubt help to maintain a degree of continuity of experience within the Committee. The CPT has been considering the implications for its working methods of the possible simultaneous change in a significant portion of the Committee’s membership. 34. As the CPT has stressed in the past, the Committee’s effectiveness will ultimately depend on the quality of its membership. The CPT appreciates the considerable care taken by the relevant bodies within the Parliamentary Assembly and, subsequently, by the Committee of Ministers when examining lists of candidates for membership. The CPT understands that the Bureau of the Assembly has recently sought to improve the written information provided on candidates, through the introduction of a model curriculum vitae, and that the possibility of enhancing the selection procedure in other ways is currently being examined. It might be noted here that, in certain countries, the procedure used to establish the list of candidates to be submitted to the Bureau of the Assembly is transparent in nature and involves interviews of the persons concerned. The CPT welcomes this approach. The introduction of an interview element at some stage of the procedure within the Council of Europe might also be considered. 35. As regards current professional expertise within the CPT, there has been an increase in the number of members with practical experience of prison work; the Committee hopes this trend will continue. The CPT still requires more members with first-hand knowledge of the work of law enforcement agencies and of immigration issues. The psychiatric profession is currently well represented within the Committee, though additional expertise in child psychiatry would be useful. The Committee would also benefit from the presence among its members of more doctors with relevant forensic skills, in particular as regards the observation and recording of physical injuries.