• The HRIC has supported the work of the UN SubCommittee on the Prevention of Torture (SPT)  since its inception. Initially this was done in the remits of the    and now the work is continued by the HRIC. This support has been expressly acknowledged by the SPT in its Annual Reports. Thus in its Third Annual Report, the SPT reported:

• The Subcommittee has remained in close contact with the Bristol University (United Kingdom) OPCAT Project and   has exchanged ideas and views on a number of issues central to the Subcommittee’s work. The project team has been involved in organising regional activities and has provided a critical external academic perspective concerning aspects of the Subcommittee’s work, for which the Subcommittee is very grateful. (UN Doc CAT/C/44/2 of 25 March 2010 at para 70)

• Aside from the individual support provided by the HRIC, the Centre stands at the inception of he so-called OPCAT Contact Group, which was reformed into OPCAT Network in 2012. The group was established in September 2006 by the then OPCAT Research Team of the University of Bristol. This group is a gathering of civil society organisations that all work on aspects of OPCATs’ implementation. The OPCAT Contact Group gained standing before the SPT and has participated in all but one sessions of the treaty body, providing assistance and support to the SPT. It comprises Amnesty International (AI), Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT), International Federation of Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (FIACAT), Human Rights Implementation Centre (HRIC), International Disability Alliance (IDA), Mental Disability Advocacy Centre (MDAC), World Organisation against Torture (OMCT), Penal Reform International (PRI), Danish Institute Against Torture (DIGNITY) and World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (WNUSP).

Together with this group, the HRIC has participated in SPT sessions, providing the Sub-Committee with comments on its Annual Reports as well as organised events and training seminars for the SPT.