Resolution 1248 (2001)

European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT): composition of the Committee

Author(s): Parliamentary Assembly

Origin - Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 23 May 2001 (see Doc. 9074, report of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, rapporteur: Lord Kirkhill). Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 23 May 2001

1. The Assembly recalls its Recommendation 1323 (1997), in which it stressed the need for a more balanced composition of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture with regard to professional background, gender and age, and urged that emphasis be placed on the criterion of members’ availability.

2. It also stressed the need for rapid entry into force of Protocol No. 2 to the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which provides for the orderly renewal of CPT members and the possibility for them to be re-elected twice.

3. It regrets that its recommendations have not been acted upon and that for want of a single ratification – that of Ukraine – neither Protocol No. 1, which opens the convention to non-member states, nor Protocol No. 2 has yet entered into force.

4. The current composition of the CPT is not balanced, either from the point of view of the representation of women, or from that of the different professional backgrounds required of its members.

5. The Assembly acknowledges that it is partly responsible in that national delegations propose candidates to the Parliamentary Assembly and the Assembly Bureau is charged with forwarding candidacies to the Committee of Ministers, which gives it the opportunity of exercising a certain amount of control.

6. In practice, however, the Bureau is unable to examine candidatures itself in order to ensure their conformity with the criteria set by the Assembly. It ought to delegate this task to its Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights.

7. Accordingly, the Assembly:

7.1. instructs its Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights to examine lists of candidates supplied by national delegations in order to ensure that they meet the criteria established in Recommendation 1323 (1997) and, where this is not the case, to recommend that the Bureau request a fresh list;S

7.2. instructs the same committee to draw up a recommendation to the Assembly Bureau, listing candidates in order of preference.