CAT/C/63/4 6. In the light of the election of seven new members, the Subcommittee decided to restructure the membership of its regional teams and to restructure and reorganize the composition of its working groups. 7. The heads of the regional teams were revised as follows: Africa, Hans-Jörg Bannwart; Asia and the Pacific, June Caridad Pagaduan Lopez; Europe, Mari Amos; and Latin America, Felipe Villavicencio Terreros. The regional teams examine the implementation of the Optional Protocol within their region, reporting to the Subcommittee in plenary, with recommendations as appropriate. 8. The Subcommittee’s permanent and ad hoc working groups met at each session during 2017. Further information on the meetings is provided in section IV below. Meeting in subgroups and working groups facilitates discussion of a broad range of issues in a focused and participatory fashion. 9. At its thirty-first session, the Subcommittee was briefed by the Association for the Prevention of Torture on the results of the study entitled “Does torture prevention work?” The Subcommittee held an induction meeting for newly elected members and a workshop facilitated by the International Committee of the Red Cross on planning visits and interviewing detainees. The Subcommittee also received an update on the latest developments relating to the Convention against Torture Initiative from the representatives of Chile and Denmark. 10. At its thirty-second session, the Omega Research Foundation presented its research on monitoring weapons and restraints in places of detention to the plenary. 11. At its thirty-third session, the Subcommittee held an informal meeting with the States parties and signatories to the Optional Protocol. The meeting was attended by members of the Permanent Missions of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Cyprus, Czechia, Finland, France, Georgia, Ireland, Maldives, Malta, Mexico, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Rwanda, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, Uruguay and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. 12. At its thirty-third session, the Subcommittee held a joint meeting, in camera, with the Committee against Torture in order to discuss a range of matters of mutual interest, including issues concerning the application of article 16 (4) of the Optional Protocol. C. Visits conducted during the reporting period 13. The Subcommittee undertook 10 official visits in 2017, in accordance with its mandate under articles 11–13 of the Optional Protocol, to the Niger (29 January–4 February), Hungary (20–31 March), the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (23–29 April), the Plurinational State of Bolivia (1–12 May), Panama (20–26 August), Mongolia (11–20 September), Spain (15–26 October), Morocco (22–28 October), Rwanda (planned from 15 to 21 October but suspended on 19 October, see para. 15 below) and Burkina Faso (3–9 December). 14. Further factual information is available in the press releases issued following each visit. Reports transmitted to a State party following a visit remain confidential until such time as the State party in question requests that it be made public. 15. In accordance with its statement on the obligations of States parties to facilitate the visits of the Subcommittee (CAT/OP/24/1), the Subcommittee suspended its visit to Rwanda on 19 October owing to difficulties in effectively exercising its visiting mandate in accordance with the provisions of the Optional Protocol. That was only the third time in 10 years of work that the Subcommittee found it necessary to suspend a mission. 16. At its thirty-second session, the Subcommittee decided to enhance its post-visit dialogues with States parties and national preventive mechanisms by undertaking in situ discussions in Italy (12 December 2017) and the Republic of Moldova (18–19 December 2017). Those meetings were supported by the treaty body capacity-building programme under the Human Rights Council and Treaty Mechanisms Division. 4