Postponement of consideration of a draft optional protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

1989/104. Postponement of consideration of a draft optional protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

At its 51st meeting, on 6 March 1989, the Commission, recalling its resolution 1986/56 of 13 March 1986, by which it had decided to defer until its forty-fifth session consideration of the draft optional protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment submitted on 6 March 1980 by Costa Rica (E/CN.4/1409), which had provided for a system of visits by a committee of experts to places of detention within the jurisdiction of the States parties to the protocol, and bearing in mind the importance of that draft optional protocol, which could represent a major step forward towards the effective prevention of torture, but expressing the belief that, before considering it, it would be advisable to take note, on the one hand, of the experience of the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which had entered into force on 1 February 1988, and, on the other hand, of the work being carried out in other regions designed to establish regional systems of visits to places of detention, decided, without a vote, to postpone until its forty-seventh session consideration of the draft optional protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, submitted by Costa Rica. [See chap. X.]