Committee against Torture
Monitoring the prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment
The Committee Against Torture
(CAT) is the body of independent
experts that monitors implementation of the Convention against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment by its State parties.
All States parties are
obliged to submit regular reports to the Committee on how the rights
are being implemented. States must report initially one year after
acceding to the Convention and then every four years. The Committee
examines each report and addresses its concerns and recommendations
to the State party in the form of “concluding
observations”.
In addition to the reporting procedure, the
Convention establishes three other mechanisms through which the
Committee performs its monitoring functions: the Committee may also,
under certain circumstances, consider individual
complaints or communications from individuals claiming that
their rights under the Convention have been violated, undertake inquiries,
and consider inter-state
complaints.
An Optional
Protocol to the Convention will, when it enters into force,
create a sub-committee and allow in-country inspections of places of
detention to be undertaken in collaboration with national
institutions.
The Committee meets in Geneva and
normally holds two sessions
per year consisting of a plenary (of three weeks in May and two
weeks in November) and a one-week pre-sessional working
group.
The Committee also publishes its interpretation of the
content of human rights provisions, known as general
comments on thematic issues.
For
more information about the work of the Committee Against Torture, click here.
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