BACKGROUND draft legislation. However, this has so far not been possible due to its staff and financial resources being overstretched. Pursuant to the rules set out in the OP-CAT, the Federal Government and the Länder have granted the National Agency the following rights: • Access to all information concerning the number of persons being deprived of their liberty at places of detention as defined in Article 4 of the OP-CAT, as well as the number of places of detention and their location; • Access to all information referring to the treatment of these persons as well as their conditions of detention; • Access to all places of detention, their installations and facilities; • The opportunity to hold private interviews with persons deprived of their liberty without witnesses, either personally or, where deemed necessary, through an interpreter, as well as with any other persons whom the national preventive mechanism believes may supply relevant information; • The liberty to choose the places they wish to visit and whom they wish to interview; • To maintain contact with the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture, to send it information and to meet with it. approached the then Chair of the Conference of Ministers of Justice of the Länder and requested that the matter of increasing funding for the National Agency be addressed. At its Spring Conference in June 2013 the Ministers of Justice agreed the following: “The Ministers of Justice are in favour of providing the Joint Commission of the Länder for the Prevention of Torture with additional experts in the field of the deprivation of liberty who do not fall within the responsibility of the judicial authorities. To that end they intend to increase the number of members working on an honorary basis to eight in total. “To fund this increase the Ministers of Justice request that the Land holding the chair contact the Standing Conference of Ministers of the Interior and the Standing Conference of Ministers of Labour and Social Affairs to negotiate their financial involvement. “The Ministers of Justice ask the Land holding the chair of the Standing Conference of Ministers of Justice to submit a recommendation for a decision.” In October 2013 the German Medical Council sent a letter to the Minister of Justice of Saarland, who at the time was chair of the Standing Conference of Ministers of Justice, to draw attention to the need to increase the resources available to the Joint Commission, a need it felt to be “urgent”. Neither the Standing Conference of Ministers of Labour and Social Affairs nor the Standing Conference of Ministers of the Interior reached decisions regarding the National Agency at their autumn meetings held in November and December 2013, respectively. The National Agency has an annual budget of EUR 300,000, of which EUR 100,000 is made available from the federal budget and EUR 200,000 from the budgets of the Länder on the basis of a distribution formula known as the “Königstein Key”. In accordance with Article 21 para. 1 of the OPCAT, no person who has communicated any information to the National Agency may be prejudiced in any way or subject to any sanctions. The members and staff of the National Agency are obliged to maintain secrecy beyond their term of office. 1.3 – FINANCIAL AND HUMAN RESOURCES Given the current level of staffing and funding, the Federal Agency and the Joint Commission are unable to fulfil their official mandate of carrying out regular visits. In May 2013 the Federal Government appointed a Deputy Director to the Federal Agency, thereby doubling its membership. Despite expanding the Federal Agency’s membership, the National Agency’s capacities (six members and funding for three research assistants and 1 one administrative assistant) are insufficient. The National Agency is thus unable to visit psychiatric hospitals, homes for the elderly and nursing homes. The Chair of the Joint Commission therefore 1 See the National Agency’s Annual Report 2012, p. 7, available in German and English at: www.nationale-stelle.de 15