Licentiate in Laws Jari Pirjola has been chosen as Finland's representative on the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT).
Pirjola works as a legal adviser in the Office of the Parliamentary Ombudsman. His area of responsibility is complaints pertaining to matters relating to foreigners.
This body, which works under the aegis of the Council of Europe, oversees the rights and treatment of persons who have been deprived of their freedom in Council of Europe member states. It tries to improve the protection that these people are afforded by making visits to closed institutions, such as prisons, police stations and psychiatric hospitals.
The Committee's members are independent and impartial experts from a variety of sectors and do not represent the state that has nominated them.
The Committee has one member from each of the Council of Europe's member states and they serve for four-year terms. LL.Lic. Pirjola's mandate will begin in December 2011.
A member of the Committee is chosen by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe from a shortlist of three names that has been put forward by the national delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly and approved by the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly.
In accordance with a recommendation drafted by the Parliamentary Assembly, the Finnish Council of Europe delegation decided to initiate an open application process starting from the beginning of the year. Applications had been received from 84 candidates by the deadline for submitting them and six were called to interviews by the delegation.
The Committee was founded by virtue of the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which entered into force in 1989.
Additional information about the CPT
