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Part I
General principles
Article 1
The objective of the present Protocol is to establish a system of regular visits undertaken by
independent international and national bodies to places where people are deprived of their
liberty, in order to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment.
Article 2
1 A Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment of the Committee against Torture (hereinafter referred to as the
Subcommittee on Prevention) shall be established and shall carry out the functions laid down in
the present Protocol.
2 The Subcommittee on Prevention shall carry out its work within the framework of the
Charter of the United Nations and shall be guided by the purposes and principles thereof, as well
as the norms of the United Nations concerning the treatment of people deprived of their liberty.
3 Equally, the Subcommittee on Prevention shall be guided by the principles of confidentiality,
impartiality, non-selectivity, universality and objectivity.
4 The Subcommittee on Prevention and the States Parties shall cooperate in the
implementation of the present Protocol.
Article 3
Each State Party shall set up, designate or maintain at the domestic level one or several visiting
bodies for the prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment (hereinafter referred to as the national preventive mechanism).
Article 4
1 Each State Party shall allow visits, in accordance with the present Protocol, by the
mechanisms referred to in articles 2 and 3 to any place under its jurisdiction and control where
persons are or may be deprived of their liberty, either by virtue of an order given by a public
authority or at its instigation or with its consent or acquiescence (hereinafter referred to as places
of detention). These visits shall be undertaken with a view to strengthening, if necessary, the
protection of these persons against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment.
2 For the purposes of the present Protocol, deprivation of liberty means any form of detention
or imprisonment or the placement of a person in a public or private custodial setting which that
person is not permitted to leave at will by order of any judicial, administrative or other authority.
Part II
Subcommittee on prevention
Article 5
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