CAT/OP/BRA/2/Add.1 joined the Torture Prevention Plan,6 16 have established state committees7 and 5 have set up state mechanisms.8 35. In exchange for states’ joining the Torture Prevention Plan, the Federal Government supports and coordinates joint action to combat and prevent torture, for example by conducting training courses on the monitoring of places of deprivation of liberty, on expert forensic examinations in torture cases and on the role of legal professionals in efforts to combat torture. 36. With a view to broadening efforts to combat the use of torture, promoting the establishment of committees and encouraging mutual learning from experience, the Human Rights Secretariat of the Office of the President also recently carried out the following activities: (a) A seminar on torture was held under the auspices of the Peace and Human Rights Study Unit of the University of Brasilia in 2010. It was aimed at people working in fields connected with torture prevention, in government and elsewhere: judges, prosecutors, delegates, public defenders, forensic doctors, crime experts, representatives of human rights bodies and civil society groups focusing on torture issues. At the event, the Human Rights Secretariat, in association with the Ministry of Justice Amnesty Commission, launched the Torture is a Crime information campaign. During that campaign, 600,000 information leaflets, posters and stickers with such slogans as “Torture is a crime”, “Torture is a crime against humanity”, “There is no bail for the crime of torture” and “Torture cannot go unpunished” were distributed; (b) The first regional meeting of the state anti-torture committees in the Northeast and Acre took place over three days in June 2010 in the city of Teresina, in Piauí. Representatives of state anti-torture committees, governmental or not, took part and discussed federal and state anti-torture policy, as well as the third National Human Rights Plan and the Torture Prevention Plan. Committee representatives were able to share experiences and establish priority goals to guide their work between August 2010 and August 2011. The first national meeting of state anti-torture committees took place in October 2010 in Brasilia. Its main objective was to provide a forum for the exchange of information and experience regarding how the matter of torture is dealt with in the different states, which have implemented the Torture Prevention Plan to varying degrees; (c) The first national meeting of state anti-torture committees and mechanisms took place on 9–10 May 2013 and attracted approximately 120 participants from the following states: Acre, Alagoas, Amapá, Bahia, Ceará, Espírito Santo, Goiás, Maranhão, 6 7 8 GE.14-42059 Acre, Pará, Maranhão, Piauí, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Sergipe, Bahia, Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, Goiás, Distrito Federal (Federal District) and Mato Grosso. It needs to be made clear that the idea of setting up committees predates the Torture Prevention Plan. As stated in paragraph 5 of this report, the first committees for receiving complaints and raising awareness were organized by civil society. The committees’ work has over time come to include evaluation and programme proposals, and the drafting, development and monitoring of relevant public policy. They have also taken on administrative and legal tasks, as well as making proposals for legislation. There are currently committees in: Acre, Pará, Maranhão, Piauí, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Bahia, Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Goiás. The establishment of committees has been actively encouraged since 2001, when the first initiatives to combat torture were carried out, and has been boosted under the Plan. In some cases therefore, such as in Rio Grande do Sul, the committee was set up before the state signed up to the Plan. Santa Catarina, for example, has not signed up even though it has a state committee. Alagoas, Paraíba, Rio de Janeiro, Pernambuco and Espírito Santo. 9