A/HRC/10/44 page 6 15. On 23 October 2008, the Special Rapporteur presented his interim report (A/63/175) to the General Assembly and, during a meeting with the President of the General Assembly, discussed challenges to the absolute prohibition of torture. 16. On 24 October 2008, in New York, he participated in a parallel event on the theme “Persons with disabilities and torture”, sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Costa Rica to the United Nations and co-organized by several non-governmental organizations. On the same day, he also met with the Department on Access to Justice of the United Nations Development Programme. 17. On 30 and 31 October 2008, the Special Rapporteur gave a training course on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights at Bilgi University, Istanbul. 18. On 7 November 2008, he gave a speech on the topic of the World Court of Human Rights at the annual meeting of the German Society of the United Nations, Berlin. 19. On 6 and 7 November 2008, the Special Rapporteur participated in a workshop on the theme “Extraordinary renditions and the protection of human rights”, held in the framework of the Transatlantic Project on counter-terrorism and human rights at Vienna University, and delivered a speech on the role of special procedures in relation to renditions. 20. On 20 November 2008, he had meetings with the Committee against Torture and members of the United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture in Geneva. Issues of common concern were discussed, in particular thematic issues that had come up over the previous year. 21. On 3 December 2008, at Webster University Vienna, the Special Rapporteur gave a speech on the theme “Challenges to the absolute prohibition of torture”. 22. On 4 December 2008, he took part in a panel discussion on the documentary “Taxi to the dark side”, together with former Guantanamo detainee Murat Kurnaz in the framework of the Human Rights Film Festival “This Human World/One World in Vienna”. 23. On 5 December 2008, in his capacity as Rapporteur of the Swiss Initiative to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, he presented a working paper entitled “Protecting dignity: an agenda for human rights”. 24. On 8, 10, 12 and 15 December 2008, he gave keynote speeches relating to the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Copenhagen, Cape Town, Vienna and Magdeburg (Germany), respectively. D. Press statements 25. On 6 October 2008, together with 12 experts, the Special Rapporteur issued a statement in support of the Dignity and Justice for Detainees Week initiated by the High Commissioner, drawing attention to violations of economic, social and cultural rights frequently experienced by detainees, the needs of particular groups, and the increased risk of ill-treatment in detention settings.