6
10.
As regards the process of on-going dialogue, the majority of States visited continue to present their
interim and follow-up reports broadly within the time-limits set by the CPT. However, on occasion it remains
the case that the time-limit for submission is greatly exceeded; as was pointed out in the 5th General Report (cf.
CPT/Inf (95) 10, paragraph 10), such a situation is particularly unsatisfactory when it concerns an interim
report, which usually represents the first official reply to a visit report. The CPT wishes to make clear that an
excessive delay in providing an interim report could lead the Committee to make a public statement under
Article 10, paragraph 2, of the Convention.
11.
In the course of 1995, the CPT's reports on its periodic visits to Ireland, Italy and Liechtenstein and the
ad hoc visit to Sweden were published, pursuant to Article 11, paragraph 2, of the Convention. Further, the
reports drawn up by the Governments of Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein and Sweden in response to CPT
visit reports were published during the year1.
At the time of writing, thirty of the forty-four visit reports drawn up to date by the CPT have been
published, and several more visit reports will be published in the near future. The Committee can only reiterate
that it welcomes this situation.
C.
Other questions
12.
In 1995, the CPT's work continued to attract interest in academic and professional circles. Members of
the CPT and of its Secretariat were invited to speak about the Committee's activities at various meetings
organised by governmental and non-governmental organisations and by professional associations. Further,
several studies of different aspects of the Committee's work have been published.
13.
Particular reference should be made to a seminar on the implementation of the Convention held in
Bratislava in February 1995, in which members of the CPT and its Secretariat participated. This seminar,
organised at the initiative of the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic and partly financed by the Council
of Europe, was designed to introduce the Committee's mandate and working methods to a wide range of
relevant Slovak officials, in advance of the CPT's first visit to Slovakia scheduled for later the same year. As
such, it was entirely in line with the decision taken by the Committee of Ministers in 1991, inviting Parties to
the Convention to inform, by appropriate means, the relevant national authorities of the existence, powers and
role of the CPT.
The CPT wishes to make known its willingness to participate in other seminars of this nature in States
which have recently ratified the Convention or which intend to proceed to ratification in the near future2.
1
Moreover, to date in 1996, eight additional visit reports have been published (concerning visits
to France, Hungary, the Netherlands Antilles, Slovenia, Spain (three visits), and the United
Kingdom) as well as a multitude of interim and follow-up reports drawn up by Governments.
2
A similar information meeting on the functioning of the CPT took place in Warsaw in February
1996.