The OPCAT: torture prevention in practice
Jean-Jacques Gautier, the founder of the APT, proposed the creation of a system of visits to places of detention in the form of an Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against torture (OPCAT).
Achievements
Torture prevention works
Which measures are the most effective in reducing the risk of torture? This is the overall question of the book “Does Torture Prevention work?” published in 2016. The book is a result of an independent study, commissioned by the APT, covering 16 countries over 30 years (1984 to 2014).
The European Committee for Prevention of Torture (CPT)
On 26 June 1987, the Council of Europe adopted the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture. It does not create any new norms but establishes a European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) allowed to visit at any time any place of detention in Europe.