CPT: 18TH GENERAL REPORT Meetings and activities of subgroups a. plenary sessions 18. The CPT held three one-week plenary sessions during the twelve months covered by this General Report – in November 2007, and March and July 2008. A total of 19 visit reports were adopted by the Committee at these meetings, eight of them being drawn up under the expedited drafting procedure (under which draft visit reports prepared by visiting delegations which are circulated at least two weeks before a plenary session are taken as approved without debate, save for paragraphs in respect of which a discussion has been specifically requested in advance). Further, the CPT has drawn up Revised Rules of Procedure, reflecting developments which have occurred in recent years as regards the internal functioning of the Committee. The Revised Rules were adopted at the CPT’s March 2008 meeting and are available on the Committee’s website. 9 b. subgroups 19. Much of the CPT’s work takes place in the context of subgroups of the Committee e.g. delegations responsible for the carrying out of visits, the medical group and the working group on the Committee’s “jurisprudence”. Ad hoc working groups can also be established to examine specific issues, and one such group has recently been set up to look into the resort to electroshock stun devices in detention-related situations. Electroshock stun devices, and in particular tasers, are increasingly being used in law enforcement and detention contexts. Originally presented as a nonlethal alternative for situations when lethal force might be employed, there is growing concern that such devices are being resorted to in circumstances that do not warrant their use. There is also controversy over the potential lethality of some of the devices concerned. In the course of its work, the CPT has already taken a position on the use of electroshock devices in specific situations (for example, the Committee has expressed its opposition to the use of electroshock stun guns in the context of operations for the forcible deportation of foreigners). The CPT now wishes to make a comprehensive examination of the use of electroshock stun devices in detention-related situations, with a view to developing standards that will help to prevent ill-treatment. 20. Another ad hoc working group is currently looking into safeguards for persons detained on the basis of aliens legislation and the conditions under which they should be held. The CPT has already laid down some standards in relation to this category of persons deprived of their liberty (see CPT/Inf/E (2002)1 – Rev. 2004). However, with the ever increasing numbers of irregular migrants arriving in Europe, and the concomitant counter measures by States, the time has come to review and possibly develop those standards.