EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN ACTION / Alla Tymofeyeva (ed.)

and social welfare establishments. Military detention facilities are also covered by the mandate of the Committee. 2. TYPES OF VISITS The CPT carries out two types of visits. Periodic visits form a part of a regular monitoring cycle and, as a general rules, are carried to each State Party every four to six years, depending on various factors, such as the size of the country, the gravity of the problems identified during previous visits and the action taken by the national authorities, as well as information on other relevant developments in the country. During these visits, CPT delegations strive to cover a broad range of topics and to visit various types of establishment which fall under its mandate. Periodic visits usually last between ten and 14 days. The other type of visits are commonly referred to as ad hoc visits ; in the ECPT terms, they are defined as visits which appear to the Committee “to be required in the circumstances”. These are usually shorter (three to seven days) and more targeted visits that are often triggered by developments in a State Party which are of a particular concern to the CPT, such as mass scale detention by the police, prison riots, strikes by prison staff and consequent difficulties in ensuring certain minimum services to prisoners or the influx of migrants and their subsequent detention. Ad hoc visits are also carried out as follow-up visits if during a previous visit, the CPT finds a particularly worrying situation in a given establishment (or in a certain type of establishment), in particular when the subsequent response of the national authorities fails to alleviate the Committee’s concerns. As at 10 March 2021, the CPT has carried out 469 visits of which 273 were of a periodic nature and 196 were ad hoc visits. In the past, the Committee endeavoured to carry out approximately ten periodic visits every year and some eight ad hoc visits. However, in recent years, there has been a trend to increase the number of focused ad hoc visits and to build a rapid reaction capacity to be able to respond promptly to unexpected developments in the State Parties, which are pertinent to the mandate of the CPT. 3. MEMBERS OF THE CPT Members of the CPT are elected by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe for a period of four years and their term of office may be renewed twice. Although each member is elected in respect of one State Party to the ECPT, they serve in their individual capacity, must act independently and impartially and do not represent the State Party concerned. They should be chosen from among persons of high moral character who have a competence in the field of human rights or professional experience in the areas covered by the ECPT. As explained above, the CPT operates in various types of establishment and this must also be reflected in the composition of the Committee. CPT members represent a broad range of professional backgrounds and competences. They include not only lawyers specialising in different areas (international law experts, judges, prosecutors, attorneys) but also, for example, police and prison experts, medical professionals (prison doctors, forensic doctors, psychiatrists), psychologists and social workers. Committee members elect the President and two Vice-Presidents of the CPT which together form the Bureau . The Bureau directs the work of the Committee, prepares, together with the Secretariat, its plenary meetings, makes proposals to the Committee as to the composition of visiting delegations and may take certain urgent decisions between plenary meetings. For example, the Bureau may decide on the carrying out of an urgent ad hoc visit. The Committee is assisted by its Strasbourg-based permanent Secretariat which is headed by the Committee’s Executive Secretary. Members of the Secretariat are employees of the Council of Europe and, inter alia , accompany members of the Committee during country visits.

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