- 10 III.
THE POST FIRST ROUND STAGE
21.
Over the last four years, implementation of the CPT's programmes of periodic visits has absorbed
practically all of the Committee's available resources. Apart from two ad hoc visits to Turkey (in 1990 and
1991) and one to Northern Ireland (1993), no other visits "required in the circumstances" were carried out.
This was perhaps understandable in the opening stage of the CPT's activities. However, the Committee
must be careful to avoid a situation in which an unduly onerous programme of scheduled visits undermines its
capacity to react expeditiously to events as they happen. Consequently, when organising its visiting activities in
future years, the CPT shall ensure that its programme of scheduled visits is such as to leave some room for
manoeuvre. The observation in paragraph 48 of the Explanatory Report on the Convention, that the Committee
"should even accord a certain priority to ad hoc visits which appear to it to be required in the circumstances",
should be recalled in this context.
22.
As regards, more specifically, visits in 1994, on 17 December 1993 the CPT announced that it
envisaged organising periodic visits to Austria, Hungary, Spain and the United Kingdom during the year, as
well as a visit of a follow-up nature to Turkey. This scheduled programme of visits will amount to a total of
approximately 60 days of visits. In addition, 25 visiting days have been set aside for visits to be organised in the
course of the year, in the light of information received. These latter visits will often be brief, targeted at
particular places of detention or situations, and preceded by very short prior notification to the State concerned.
23.
Further, the Committee believes that visits to the new Council of Europe member States in Central and
Eastern Europe which become Parties to the Convention must be treated as a matter of priority. As already
indicated, Hungary shall receive a periodic visit in 1994, only a matter of months after the date on which the
Convention entered into force for that country; a similar approach will be followed vis-à-vis Bulgaria, Slovakia
and Slovenia.
24.
In the interests of maintaining the CPT's credibility, it will also be important to ensure that the interval
between periodic visits to Parties to the Convention does not become too long; this is especially the case when
the previous visit revealed matters of concern.
The Committee's objective remains the carrying out of periodic visits to each Party every two to three
years (the gap between periodic visits perhaps being somewhat longer in the case of countries with small
populations). However, the resources currently at the Committee's disposal fall considerably short of those
needed to attain that objective.
25.
In the light of the above, it is clear that the CPT will be faced with some difficult choices when
determining its annual programmes of periodic visits.