Meeting with the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT)

During the third periodic visit of the CPT to the Principality from 15 to 18 September 2020, the High Commissioner and her team met a delegation of experts from the Council of Europe as part of a series of meetings being held by the Committee with national authorities and other stakeholders to assess detention conditions in places where people are deprived of their liberty.

The meeting provided an opportunity to review positive developments, particularly in prisons, following the recommendations issued by the High Commissioner as a result of investigating complaints submitted by prisoners, as well as areas which continue to cause concern.

The Office of the High Commissioner has received nearly 20 complaints from prisoners jailed at Monaco Remand Prison since 2017. In its capacity as an independent human rights institution, the Office has worked with the prison authorities to investigate these complaints, since Monaco does not currently have a specific national mechanism for preventing ill-treatment.

The general recommendations issued by the High Commissioner on these issues will be made public in the Office’s 2017–2019 report, which will be published on the website soon.

Made up of independent, impartial experts, the CPT is a prevention mechanism which seeks to assess how people deprived of their liberty are treated in the Council of Europe’s member States and, where necessary, to strengthen their protection against torture and inhuman or degrading treatment. The CPT’s reports on its visits to Monaco include the recommendations issued by this body and are available on the Council of Europe’s website.