ADDENDUM Major Recent Developments (2002 – March 2003) The following information should be added to the chapters indicated. Further updates of relevant developments will be posted on the OHCHR web site (www.ohchr.org). Chapter 2: The Major Universal Human Rights Instruments and the Mechanisms for Their Implementation The International Criminal Court (pp. 49-50): The International Criminal Court was inaugurated on 11 March 2003 and has its seat in The Hague, the Netherlands. As of 10 March 2003, 89 States had ratified the Court’s Statute. For more information about the Court, see www.icc-cpi.int/. The Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989, and its two Optional Protocols, 2000 (p. 43): In two meetings held on 10 February 2003, States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child expanded the membership of the Committee that monitors compliance with the Convention by electing 13 experts, five to replace members whose terms were expiring and eight new ones, thereby bringing the total number of members to 18. Originally, the Committee on the Rights of the Child had only ten members (art. 43(2) of the Convention). The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 1984 (p. 54): On 18 December 2002, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The objective of this Optional Protocol “is to establish a system of regular visits undertaken by independent international and national bodies to places where people are deprived of their liberty, in order to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” (art. 1). Chapter 3: The Major Regional Human Rights Instruments and the Mechanisms for Their Implementation The European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 1987 (p. 107): With the entry into force on 1 March 2002 of Protocol No. 1 to this Convention, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe may invite any non-member State of the organization to accede to the Convention. No geographical limits on this power of invitation are foreseen in the Protocol (see www.cpt.coe.int/en/about.htm). xxxii Human Rights in the Administration of Justice: A Manual on Human Rights for Judges, Prosecutors and Lawyers