The Ombudsman published a (new) public procurement no. 12.1-4/2014-1 in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, no. 92/2014 of 19 December 2014 for the selection of NGOs willing to cooperate with the Ombudsman in the implementation of duties and powers of the NPM for the 2015–2017 period, with the possibility of an extension for an additional year. Eight NGOs applied to the public procurement (including some new ones), i.e. Novi paradoks (NP), the Association for Developing Voluntary Work Novo mesto (Association), Humanitarno društvo Pravo za vse (Pravo za vse), Caritas Slovenia (Caritas), SKUP – Community of Private Institutes (SKUP), the LegalInformational Centre for NGOs (PIC), the Peace Institute (MI) and the Slovenian Federation of Pensioners’ Associations (ZDUS). All bids were timely and met the criteria determined in the public procurement, and were all selected for cooperation with the Ombudsman in the implementation of duties and powers of the NPM. The Ombudsman also cooperated with representatives of these organisations in 2015 during the implementation of the duties and powers of the NPM. It was thus decided at the end of 2014 that a special NPM unit would be established in 2015, which will not discuss individual complaints, but only conduct visits and other NPM duties. In addition to the Deputy Ombudsman, Ivan Šelih, who is the head of the NPM, the unit also includes Robert Gačnik, (B.A. (Criminal Justice and Security), specialist in criminal investigation), the Ombudsman’s adviser/councillor (responsible particularly for visiting prisons, police stations, aliens and asylum centres), mag. Jure Markič, the Ombudsman’s adviser/senior councillor, (B.A. (Law)) (responsible for visiting social care institutions and psychiatric hospitals) and Lili Jazbec, the Ombudsman’s adviser/councillor, professor of defectology for behavioural and personality disorders and institutional education science (responsible for visiting juvenile institutions and jointly responsible for social care institutions). Both of the Ombudsman’s activities (preventive, including NPM duties, and reactive, including the examination of individual complaints) were thus completely separated. The need for this separation is explicitly stipulated in Item 32 of the Guidelines on national preventive mechanisms (SPT)3 adopted in Geneva in November 2010, which determines that “where the body designated as the NPM performs other functions in addition to those under the Optional Protocol, its NPM functions should be located within a separate unit or department, with its own staff and budget”. We find that the decision for this division of the Ombudsman’s activities was appropriate. The implementation of tasks and powers of the NPM is now much more effective, which is also reflected in the number of visits to different locations (for example, we conducted 39 visits in the role of NPM in 2014 and as many as 67 visits in 2015). The improved organisation of work contributes to better preparation for the implementation of a visit, its execution and drafting of the report on the visit. Due to the different distribution of work, an adviser on discussing individual complaints will have to be replaced. Furthermore, a higher number of visits also incurs higher costs (for cooperation with the selected NGOs and the execution of visits). The need to improve the participation of doctors/experts on individual NPM visits also requires an increase of funds. 5.3 Activities of the NPM When implementing its duties and powers, the NPM visits (while conducting its annual programme of visits) all locations in the Republic of Slovenia where persons are deprived of their liberty and inspects how such persons are treated, in order to strengthen their protection against torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or humiliating treatment or punishment. While observing suitable legal norms, the NPM makes recommendations to the relevant authorities to improve the conditions and treatment of people and prevent torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. In this regard, it may also submit proposals and comments on applicable or drafted acts. Official places of deprivation of liberty in the Republic of Slovenia include in particular: - prisons and all their units and Radeče Juvenile Correctional Facility, -e  ducational institutions, - c ertain social care institutions – retirement homes and special social care institutions, -p  sychiatric hospitals, -d  etention rooms at police stations and Ljubljana Police Detention Centre, - t he Aliens Centre and the Asylum Centre, -d  etention rooms operated by the Slovenian Armed Forces, and - all other locations as per Article 4 of the Optional Protocol (for example, police intervention vehicles, etc.). As the NPM, the Ombudsman engages experts with the widest range of recommended specialist knowledge. Since selected NGOs cannot provide certain other suitable experts and because the Ombudsman does not dispose of an expert in the field of medical care, certain experts had to be engaged externally. At the beginning of 2014, a notification on the call for proposals for the purpose of recruiting doctors/expert specialists to help the Ombudsman to establish, clarify or evaluate evidence of torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, or to support the Ombudsman during visits to places of deprivation of liberty with suitable expert knowledge which the Ombudsman lacks, was published on the Ombudsman’s website and in the ISIS publication of the Medical Chamber of Slovenia. Three proposals were received, i.e. from Dr. Peter Pregelj, specialist/psychiatrist, Dr. Milan Popovič, specialist in general surgery and Dr. Zdenka Čebašek-Travnik, specialist in psychiatry (former Human Rights Ombudsman). Since all proposals met the requirements, all three doctors were recruted as physician experts and agreements on cooperation were concluded with them. An individual expert selected from the list by the Ombudsman as per the type and place of an individual visit performs the tasks according to the orders and instructions of the Ombudsman and in cooperation with the Ombudsman’s expert colleagues by participating in planned visits and providing written replies to the Ombudsman’s questions in the role of the NPM and providing their own findings, particularly on the suitability of medical care and the treatment of people deprived of liberty. The selected NGOs implement their tasks and powers with persons qualified for individual fields of supervision as members in a group appointed by the Ombudsman to implement supervision in places of deprivation of liberty and the examination of treatment of people deprived of liberty. The group implementing supervision is thus composed of the Ombudsman’s representatives and selected organisations who observe the programme of visits adopted by the Ombudsman in cooperation with the selected organisations. If necessary, other circumstances demanding an immediate visit are also taken into account. The NPM drafts a comprehensive (final) report on the findings established at the visited institution after each visit. The report also covers proposals and recommendations for the elimination of established irregularities and to improve the situation, including measures to reduce the possibilities of improper treatment in the future. The Ombudsman’s representatives and the representatives of the selected NGOs participate in drafting the report on the visit. All participants, including NGO representatives, must prepare a brief report on their findings, together with proposals, which form part of the report on the implemented supervision. The report is submitted to the competent authority (i.e. the superior body of the visited institution) with a proposal that the authority take a position on the statements or recommendations in the report and submit it to the Ombudsman by a determined deadline. A representative of the Ombudsman is usually responsible for preparing the report, although a person from a selected NGO may also be appointed for this purpose. On the basis of the report, the response of the competent authority and possible additional observations of the NPM, a brief report is published online after each visit.4 5.4 Brief statistics on NPM visits in 2015 In 2015, the NPM conducted 67 visits to different places of deprivation of liberty which included: - 23 detention rooms at police stations, - 21 social care institutions, The Rules were published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, no. 17/2008. The Rules were partly amended in 2011 (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, no. 20/2011). 2 3 Available at: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/OPCAT/Pages/NationalPreventiveMechanisms.aspx. 228 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM FOR 2015 4 See: http://www.varuh-rs.si/o-instituciji/podrocja-dela-varuha/varuh-kot-drzavni-preventivni-mehanizem/. ANNUAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM FOR 2015 229 5 IMPLEMENTATION OF DUTIES AND POWERS OF THE NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM 5 IMPLEMENTATION OF DUTIES AND POWERS OF THE NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.2