CAT/C/42/2 page 4 I. INTRODUCTION 1. This public document is the second annual report of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (SPT).1 It gives an account of the work of the SPT during the period from the beginning of April 2008 to the end of March 2009.2 2. As at 31 March 2009, the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) had 46 States parties and 62 signatories.3 A number of other States are far advanced in the process of ratification and the SPT looks forward to the time when there will be fifty States parties and the number of SPT members will increase to 25. 3. The original membership of ten experts, elected by States parties as independent members of the SPT in October 2006, stayed the same following elections in October 2008 for the seats of the five members whose terms of office expired after two years.4 The members of this new generation of United Nations treaty bodies remain firmly committed to preventing torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment through the three pillars of the SPT mandate: • Visits to places of deprivation of liberty • Direct work with national preventive mechanisms • Cooperation with other United Nations bodies, other international bodies at the global and regional levels, and national bodies working in related areas 4. Article 25 of the OPCAT states that the “expenditure incurred by the Subcommittee on Prevention in the implementation of the present Protocol shall be borne by the United Nations” and that the “Secretary-General of the United Nations shall provide the necessary staff and facilities for the effective performance of the functions of the Subcommittee on Prevention under the present Protocol.” During its second year the SPT has continued to struggle to fulfil the mandate due to factors seriously inhibiting its capacity to do so: 1 Established following the entry into force in June 2006 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT). For the text of the OPCAT, see www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cat-one.htm. 2 In accordance with the OPCAT (art. 16, para. 3), the SPT presents its public annual reports to the Committee against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. 3 A list of States parties to the OPCAT is contained in annex I. 4 A list of SPT members is contained in annex II.