PART 2: Procedures of the Human Rights Commitee and the Committee against Torture i. Visiting Places of Detention Under Article 11, the Subcommittee shall: (a) Visit the places referred to in article 4 and make recommendations to State Parties concerning the protection of persons deprived of their liberty against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. A “place of detention” is defined in Article 4(1) as: Any place under its jurisdiction and control418 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 acquiesce. “Deprivation of liberty” is defined in Article 4(2): 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. Thus the definition is broad, to ensure that the Subcommittee may visit: Police stations, prisons (military and civilian), detention centres (e.g. pre-trial detention centres, immigration detention centres, juvenile justice establishments, etc.), mental health and social care institutions and any other places where people are or may be deprived of their liberty.419 Furthermore, “the list is not closed”420 so the definition can be applied flexibly to new contexts in which an individual is deprived of his or her liberty. It is important to note that, under the OPCAT, in order to allow for the fulfilment of its preventive purpose, both the Subcommittee and the National Preventive Mechanism, have the right to carry out unannounced or short-notice visits, which, according to the Subcommittee “give a much more realistic idea of conditions in a place of deprivation of liberty”.421 Regarding the choice of the States parties to be visited, the Subcommittee has included the “date of ratification/development of national preventive mechanisms, geographic distribution, size and complexity of the State, regional preventive monitoring and urgent issues reported” among the factors that may be 418 States parties are not under the obligation to grant access to places of detention which are under the jurisdiction but not under their effective (or de facto) control, that is, if the whole or part of their territory is occupied by another State, administered by an external power or controlled by insurgent groups. See Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (SPT), “Guidelines on national preventive mechanisms”, (2010) UN Doc. CAT/OP/12/5, para. 24; Nowak and McArthur (2008), pp. 932–933. 419 The SPT in brief (Visits), available at: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/opcat/spt_ brief.htm. 420 Evans, M., “Signing the Optional Protocol to the Torture Convention”, The New Zealand Law Journal 383 (October 2004), p. 384. 421 See Report on the visit made by the SPT for the purpose of providing advisory assistance to the National Preventive Mechanism in Senegal, (2013) UN Doc. CAT/OP/SEN/2, para. 38. 137