Website: The prevention of torture and ill-treatment in Europe

Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights provides that "no one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."

This article inspired the 1987 drafting of the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The Convention gave birth to a non-judicial preventive machinery to protect detainees, based on a system of visits by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT).

The CPT has developed detailed standards setting out the criteria whereby the treatment of detainees and prison conditions can be regarded as consistent with human dignity.

The CPT, composed of experts drawn from a variety of professional backgrounds, is the only institution world-wide which can at any time inspect any place of detention located in one of the member states of the Council of Europe.