GENEVA (3 May 2022) - The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) is set to visit Lebanon from 4 to 10 May 2022 to assess the country’s implementation of the recommendations it made during its previous visit. “This upcoming mission follows the SPT’s first visit to Lebanon in 2010. We aim to assess how the authorities have implemented our recommendations in the past 12 years,” said Nika Kvaratskhelia, Head of the SPT Delegation. “We will also further our advice on measures that could be strengthened or adopted to protect people deprived of their liberty from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,” he added. Lebanon ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) in 2008. Under its mandate, the SPT can undertake visits to all States parties to the Optional Protocol and carry out unannounced visits to all places where people are deprived of their liberty. During each visit, the SPT delegate will meet with government officials and members of the national torture watchdog, officially known as the national preventive mechanism, civil society representatives and other UN agencies. “We look forward to establishing close contact with the members of Lebanon’s recently created national preventive mechanism during this visit. We will formulate our new advice from the observations of the mission and reiterate our continued commitment to dialogue with Lebanon,” Kvaratskhelia said. At the end of the visit, the SPT will present its confidential preliminary observations to the Government of Lebanon and the national preventive mechanism. The SPT delegation comprises Nika Kvaratskhelia, Head of Delegation (Georgia), Vasiliki Artinopoulou (Greece), Marija Definis (Croatia), Satyabhooshun Gupt Domah (Mauritius), and Hamida Dridi (Tunisia). ENDS