8 II. ORGANISATIONAL ISSUES A. The Convention and its Protocols 17. In the course of 1995, the Convention was ratified by the Czech Republic (on 7 September 1995) and signed by Lithuania (on 14 September 1995)3. To date, the Convention is in force in respect of 30 of the 39 member States of the Council of Europe4. It is noteworthy that ratification of the Convention has become one of the commitments systematically sought by the Parliamentary Assembly from States seeking to join the Council of Europe. In accordance with such commitments given at the time of accession to the Organisation, five more member States should shortly become Parties to the Convention. 18. The two Protocols amending the Convention5, which were opened for signature on 4 November 1993, were signed and/or ratified by a number of States during 1995. It should be recalled that before the Protocols can enter into force, they must be ratified (or signed without reservation as to ratification) by all the Parties to the Convention. To date, twenty-one of the current thirty Parties to the Convention have taken this step, and seven of the remaining nine Parties have signed the Protocols with reservation as to ratification6. 19. The CPT has already made known that it is concerned by the time being taken for the entry into force of Protocol No. 2 (cf. the 5th General Report - CPT/Inf (95) 10, paragraph 24), which will make technical amendments to the Convention capable of greatly facilitating the Committee's work. The CPT urges those Parties to the Convention which have not yet consented to be bound by Protocol No. 2 to proceed to ratification (or signature without reservation as to ratification) of this instrument without further delay. The CPT would also request States which are envisaging ratification of the Convention to ensure that Protocol No. 2 is ratified at the same time. 3 So far in 1996, the Convention has been signed, in chronological order, by the Russian Federation (28 February 1996), Moldova (2 May 1996), the Ukraine (2 May 1996), "the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia "(14 June 1996) and Estonia (28 June 1996). 4 See Appendix 1 A for the state of signatures and ratifications of the Convention. 5 Protocol No. 1 "opens" the Convention by providing that the Committee of Ministers may invite any non-member State of the Council of Europe to accede to it; Protocol No. 2 introduces amendments regarding the renewal of the CPT's membership and provides that members may be re-elected twice. 6 See Appendix 1 B and 1 C for the state of signatures and ratifications of the Protocols.