H. Inform~n on the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment 13. At the 99th meeting, on 19 November 1992, Mr. Bent Sorensen, at the Committee's invitation, provided information on the status and activities of the European Committee established under the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, of which he had been a member and First Vice-Chairman since September 1989. He stated, in particular, that all 23 member States of the Council of Europe had ratified the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture; Hungary and Czechoslovakia, two new member States, were in the process of ratifying it. In accordance with the mandate entrusted to it by the European Convention, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture could visit any place within the jurisdiction of the States parties where persons were deprived of their liberty by a public authority. By the end of 1992, delegations of the European Committee were to have visited 12 States parties to the European Convention. 14. At the 113th meeting, on 4 May 1992, Mr. Sorensen provided additional information on the European Committee for the Preventi.on of Torture, in particular with regard to the methods of work it had' developed as a result of its experience in visiting places of detention. I. 19. the the subm open In a, the 20. membl an ac betwl undel schec receJ ConvE 21. the n the l: term to ael and r coope Question of a draft optional protocol to the Convention 15. The Committee had exchanged views on the question of a draft optional protocol to the Convention during its sixth session, in April 1991. 1/ 16. At that session, the Committee had before it document E/CN.4/1991/66, containing the text of the optional protocol to the Convention which had been submitted by the Government of Costa Rica to the Commission on Human Rights at its forty-seventh session together with an introductory memorandum on the subject. The Committee also had before it Commission decision 1991/107 of 5 March 1991, by which the Commission had decided to consider the draft optional protocol at its forty-eighth session in 1992. 17. At its eighth session, the Committee, in addition to document E/CN.4/1991/66, had before it resolution 1992/43 adopted by the Commission on Human Rights on 3 March 1992, by which the Commission had decided to establish an open-ended inter-sessional working group in order to elaborate a draft optional protocol to the Convention against Torture, using as a basis for its discussions the draft text proposed by the Government of Costa Rica on 22 January 1991, and to consider the implications of its adoption as well as the relationship between the draft optional protocol, regional instruments and the Committee against Torture. The Commission had also requested the Secretary-General to invite the Committee against Torture, among others, to send comments on the draft optional protocol and its implications for consideration by the working group, and to circulate those contributions to Governments in advance of the meeting of the working group. 18. The Committee discussed this issue at its 105th, 114th and l16th meetings, on 28 April and 4 and 5 May 1992. -4Digitized by Dag Hammarskjöld Library 22. the C infor respe accor as an relev ( i i C