21. In addition to continuing its discussion of ongoing intergovernmental activities
of the Council of Europe on matters within the CPT’s mandate and on its own internal
working methods at all three meetings, the CPT held an exchange of views during
the March meeting with the Chair of the Council of Europe Bioethics Committee
on the draft Additional Protocol concerning the protection of human rights and
dignity of persons with mental disorder to the Convention on Human Rights and
Biomedicine (Oviedo Convention). Furthermore, the November meeting included
an exchange of views with the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights
on topics of mutual interest such as migration, deinstitutionalisation and so-called
“grey zones”.
22. The two standing subgroups of the CPT, the Working Group on Health and the
Working Group on the CPT’s Jurisprudence, continued to meet on the Sunday before
each plenary meeting. The Working Group on Health examines substantive issues
of a medical nature related to the CPT’s mandate and organises training sessions
on the specific tasks that medical members of visiting delegations are required to
perform. The task of the Working Group on the CPT’s Jurisprudence is to advise the
CPT on developments in the Committee’s standards as reflected in visit reports and
to identify areas where there is room for development of those standards. The CPT
also decided to set up a working group with the task of reviewing the ways and
means through which the CPT’s impact might be enhanced.
Contacts with other bodies
23. The CPT continued to promote contact with other bodies within the Council of
Europe. For instance, the Committee was represented at two hearings organised by
the Parliamentary Assembly: one on 28 June 2018 on protecting human rights during
transfers of prisoners, the other on 10 October 2018 on ensuring greater follow-up of
CPT recommendations. The President of the CPT participated in a thematic debate
on conditions of detention organised by the Committee of Ministers on 13 March
2018 in order to enhance the execution of the judgments of the European Court of
Human Rights and presented the CPT’s 27th annual general report to the Committee
of Ministers during an exchange of views on 18 April 2018.
Contacts were also maintained with the European Court of Human Rights, including
participation of the CPT’s President in a seminar on the authority of the judiciary
organised on the occasion of the opening of the Court’s judicial year on 26 January
2018. The CPT also had contacts with the Commissioner for Human Rights and
her office (see paragraph 21 above); the Special Representative of the Secretary
General on migration and refugees, and many other bodies and sectors of the
Council of Europe. In addition, the CPT followed intergovernmental standard-setting
carried out by the Committee of experts on administrative detention of migrants
(CJ-DAM) on draft European rules on the administrative detention of migrants and
the Committee on Bioethics (DH-BIO) concerning the draft Additional Protocol to
the “Oviedo Convention” on the protection of human rights and dignity of persons
with mental disorder (see paragraph 21 above). It also followed the activities of
the Council of Europe Working Group of the Council for Penological Co-operation
(PC-CP) as regards the revision of the European Prison Rules.
Activities during the period 1 January to 31 December 2018 ► Page 13
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