Committee Against Torture
The Committee against Torture (CAT) is a body of human rights experts that monitors implementation of the Convention by State parties. The Committee is one of eight UN-linked human rights treaty bodies. All state parties are obliged under the Convention to submit regular reports to the CAT on how rights are being implemented. Upon ratifying the Convention, states must submit a report within one year, after which they are obliged to report every four years. The Committee examines each report and addresses its concerns and recommendations to the State party in the form of "concluding observations." Under certain circumstances, the CAT may consider complaints or communications from individuals claiming that their rights under the Convention have been violated.
The CAT usually meets in April/May and November each year in Geneva. Members are elected to four-year terms by State parties and can be re-elected if nominated.
The current membership of the CAT:
| Name | State | Term Expires |
|---|---|---|
| Claudio Grossman (chair) | Chile | 2015 |
| Xuexian Wang (vice-chair) | China | 2013 |
| Essadia Belmir (vice-chair) | Morocco | 2013 |
| Felice D. Gaer (vice-chair) | USA | 2015 |
| Nora Sveaass (rapporteur) | Norway | 2013 |
| Satyabhoosun Gupt Domah | Mauritius | 2015 |
| Alessio Bruni | Italy | 2013 |
| George Tugushi | Georgia | 2015 |
| Abdoulaye Gaye | Senegal | 2015 |
| Fernando Mariño Menéndez | Spain | 2013 |
Read more about this topic: United Nations Convention Against Torture
Famous quotes containing the words committee and/or torture:
“I find it profoundly symbolic that I am appearing before a committee of fifteen men who will report to a legislative body of one hundred men because of a decision handed down by a court comprised of nine men—on an issue that affects millions of women.... I have the feeling that if men could get pregnant, we wouldn’t be struggling for this legislation. If men could get pregnant, maternity benefits would be as sacrosanct as the G.I. Bill.”
—Letty Cottin Pogrebin (20th century)
“Imagine that it is you yourself who are erecting the edifice of human destiny with the aim of making men happy in the end, of giving them peace and contentment at last, but that to do that it is absolutely necessary, and indeed quite inevitable, to torture to death only one tiny creature, the little girl who beat her breast with her little fist, and to found the edifice on her unavenged tears—would you consent to be the architect on those conditions?”
—Feodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881)