A/HRC/16/52 Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan” organized by the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) in Vienna, Austria. 17. On 19 October, the Special Rapporteur gave a lecture on the work of a United Nations Special Rapporteur at the Panteion University, Athens, Greece, where he also received an award for his fight for human rights. Between 25 and 29 October, the Special Rapporteur participated in a panel discussion on “Future Challenges for the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture”, organized by the Permanent Mission of Denmark and the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT), together with incumbent mandate holder, Juan E. Méndez, and met with representatives of the Permanent Missions of Austria, Greece, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea and Switzerland to the United Nations. He also met with the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, Ivan Simonovic. 18. On 28 October, the Special Rapporteur addressed the event “Reckoning with Torture”, organized by Amnesty International in the context of its Torture Awareness Campaign at John Jay College of Law, New York. On 29 October, the Special Rapporteur led a discussion on “Addressing Torture in Places of Detention and Health Care” at Human Rights Watch, New York. 19. During the month of November 2010, the Special Rapporteur delivered speeches in several countries in reponse to invitations he had been unable to accept before the end of his mandate on 31October 2010. 20. On 8 and 9 November, the incumbent Special Rapporteur participated in a meeting organised by the Open Society Institute in Budapest, Hungary, to discuss prison conditions with several Russian and Ukrainian NGOs. He also met with representatives of the Londonbased Penal Reform International who had arranged meetings with human rights activists from Belarus and Moldova. In Budapest, he also met with a member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and a representative of the Mental Disability Advocacy Centre to discuss issues of deprivation of liberty and treatment of mentally disabled patients. 21. On 12 November, and on 2 December, the Special Rapporteur met with representatives of Human Rights Watch in Washington, D.C. Within that period, he had met with a delegation of Venezuelan NGOs working on prison conditions in that country, and civil society representatives involved in work on pre-trial detention worldwide. 22. On 15 and 16 November, the Special Rapporteur attended a joint meeting of the Committee against Torture and the Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture in Geneva, Switzerland. He also met with representatives of the Permanent Missions of Brazil, Thailand and Zimbabwe, and participated in a working lunch hosted by the Permanent Missions of Argentina and Denmark. The Special Rapporteur met with NGO representatives to discuss thematic and geographic issues concerning his mandate. 23. On 9 and 10 December, the Special Rapporteur participated in a round table organized by the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT), in Copenhagen, Denmark. Among other experts, Sir Nigel Rodley, a previous mandate holder, also participated in the panel. He also met with senior officials of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. E. Key press statements 24. On 21 July 2010, the Special Rapporteur issued a joint statement with the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism, expressing concern about the fate of Guantánamo detainees from Algeria to be returned to their country. 6