9 Pursuant to Article 4, Paragraph 2 of the OPCAT, “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.” Within the Committee, the OPCAT established the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment of the Committee against Torture (hereinafter the “Subcommittee on Prevention”). One of the main tasks of the Subcommittee on Prevention is to visit places where people are deprived of their liberty, and, when necessary, advise and assist States Parties in their establishment and operation of their National Preventive Mechanism (hereinafter the “NPM”), an independent national body conducting regular visits to their places of detention.17 The NPMs’ operation, in addition to the general guidelines18 of the Subcommittee on Prevention, shall be governed by the concrete guidelines and recommendations19 specified in the reports on the visits conducted on the territory of States Parties. On September 7, 2015, pursuant to Article 11 of the OPCAT, two members of the Subcommittee on Prevention, Mr. Malcolm Evans and Ms. Mari Amos paid an informal visit to my Office, during which they inquired about the launching of the NPM’s operation and the frameworks of my cooperation with domestic civil society organizations.20 Mr. Malcolm Evans summarized their experiences gained from the visit in a letter. 21 Upon his request, I forwarded a copy of the letter to the members of the Civil Consultative Body as well. 1.2.2. Documents of the Council of Europe According to Article 3 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, dated in Rome on November 4, 1950 (hereinafter the “European Convention on Human Rights”), promulgated by Act XXXI of 1993, “no one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” Unlike the UN documents, the European Convention on Human Rights does not contain the term “cruel”. Compliance with obligations undertaken in the European Convention on Human Rights and the protocols thereto, including the ban on torture, inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment, stipulated in Article 3, is essentially supervised by the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter the “ECHR”). According to the European Convention on Human Rights, the ECHR may receive applications from any person, nongovernmental organization or group of individuals claiming to be the victim of a violation by one of the High Contracting Parties of the rights set forth in the Convention or the Protocols thereto within six months after all domestic remedies have been exhausted.22 In addition to the above, any High Contracting Party may refer to the ECHR any alleged breach of the provisions of the Convention and the Protocols thereto by another High Contracting Party.23 In the course of its proceedings, the ECHR shall decide See Article 11 of the OPCAT Guidelines on national preventive mechanisms: CAT/OP/12/5; Analytical assessment tool for national preventive mechanisms: CAT/OP/1/Rev. 1; Compilation of SPT Advices to NPMs. The documents may be found at: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/OPCAT/Pages/Brief.aspx 19See: UN Committee Against Torture (CAT), Report on the visit of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment to the Maldives, February 26, 2009, CAT/OP/MDV/1, Clause 72. c) 20 The report on the meeting is filed in my Office under AJB-4081/2015. 21 The English language letter by Mr. Malcolm Evans, dated on October 27, 2015, is filed in my Office also under AJB4081/2015. 22 See Articles 34 and 35 of the European Convention on Human Rights 23 See Article 33 of the European Convention on Human Rights 17 18