the opcat unit 13 The international examining bodies The STP has 25 independent members, all of whom are experts in the areas that are relevant to preventing torture. The members are appointed by the statutes bound by the Protocol. The countries the SPT will be visiting are decided in an annual schedule. The European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment entered into force in 1989. As a result of the Convention, the Committee for Prevention of Torture, (CPT) was established, the main task of which is to regularly visit institutions for individuals deprived of their liberty in Europe. All of the Council of Europe’s 47 member states have ratified the Convention. Swedish authorities are obliged to cooperate with the SPT and CPT (see Certain International Undertakings against Torture Act [1988:695]). In May 2015, Sweden was visited by the CPT. The report to the government pointed out, at the beginning of 2016, that the Committee considered that the Parliamentary Ombudsmen’s OPCAT unit was understaffed. Following a review of the operations, the OPCAT unit was increased with two employees, and now has six full-time employees. The enlargement facilitates the unit to assist the Parliamentary Ombudsmen in their role as NPM. Since the CPT’s report was released, there have been high-level talks between the CPT and the Swedish government. The most important aim of the talks was the implementation of the recommendations provided some time ago, by the CPT, stating that Sweden needed to reduce both the time during which it is possible to impose restrictions on persons in remand prisons, and the scope of such restrictions. This issue was followed up on within the framework of the Parliamentary Ombudsmen’s OPCAT unit in 2017 (see also Section 3). A Nordic NPM network In 2015, a Nordic NPM network was created with participants from the ombudsman institutions in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, all of which fulfil the NPM role in accordance with OPCAT. An initial meeting was held in June in Oslo, Norway where it was decided that the network would meet once every six months to exchange experiences regarding factual matters and methods, among other things. At a meeting in Oslo in August 2017, Iceland’s ombudsman institution also took part, for the first time, before formally taking on the role of NPM. The themes of the NPM network’s meetings have included children deprived of their liberty, detained aliens and compulsory psychiatric care. OPCAT celebrates 10 years On 22 June 2016, OPCAT celebrated its 10 year anniversary. The system of independent examining bodies has proved exceptionally strong with regard In 2015, the CPT visited the following institutions in Sweden: • the prison establishments in Norrtälje and Saltvik (Härnösand), • the remand prison in Falun, Kronoberg (Stockholm), Malmö, Sollentuna and Växjö, • the police custody facilities in Stockholm (Arlanda, Norrmalm, Södermalm, Sollentuna and Solna), Borlänge, Falun, Lund, Malmö, Sundsvall and Växjö, • the regional forensic psychiatry clinic in Växjö, and • the Migration Agency’s detention centre in Märsta.