CAT/OP/SEN/2 B. Recommendations relating to institutional issues 18. The Subcommittee’s concerns relate chiefly to the lack of any strategy or workplan to discharge the Observatory’s mandate, the precarity of the financial resources at the Observatory’s disposal, the inadequate staffing structure, the delay in getting visits to places of deprivation of liberty under way, and the lack of visibility. 19. In establishing the mandate of a national preventive mechanism, proper attention needs to be paid to its various functions as defined in article 19 of the Optional Protocol: to regularly examine the treatment of persons in places of detention, to make recommendations with the aim of improving their conditions and prevent torture and illtreatment, and to submit proposals concerning legislation and regulations. 20. The Subcommittee encourages the Observatory to make an assessment of the lacunae in respect of prevention of torture, and notably as regards the legislative framework and the monitoring of the situation in places of deprivation of liberty, and to devise a strategy for responding to that assessment in accordance with its mandate. This strategy should provide guidelines for action and cooperation that will permit the most rational use of resources possible and avoid any overlap with the work of other players such as the National Human Rights Commission and civil society organizations. In that regard, the Subcommittee recalls that one of the basic principles in setting up a national preventive mechanism is that it should complement rather than replace existing systems of oversight.1 21. In addition, the strategy should set forth criteria for deciding the priority to give to the places of deprivation of liberty slated for periodic inspections, taking into account the nature and size of the institutions, the seriousness of any human rights problems that may have been brought to the Observatory’s attention, and the institutions’ accessibility to other oversight mechanisms. 22. On the basis of this strategy, the Observatory should draw up a programme of work and cooperation that gradually takes in all places of deprivation of liberty and places where persons deprived of liberty could be being held, in accordance with articles 4 and 29 of the Optional Protocol, taking care not to exclude any given kind of institution or any geographical area. 23. As regards recommendations on legislation and regulations, the Observatory could give priority to the legislative and regulatory issues identified in the visits carried out with the Subcommittee, and the recommendations of the United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT/C/SEN/CO/3). 24. The Subcommittee has communicated to the Senegalese Government its disquiet at the absence of any stable, adequate budget allocated to the national preventive mechanism, which prevents it from functioning properly. Thus, while it notes the budget proposal for 300 million CFA francs put forward by the Observatory for 2013, the Subcommittee regrets that it has not been possible for it to obtain an idea of the costs relating to the discharge of the Observatory’s mandate, since the proposal goes into detail only on staff pay. 25. The Subcommittee recommends that the national preventive mechanism prepare a detailed budget of the expenditure necessary for the implementation of the programme of work referred to above. The budget should distinguish between the costs relating to the establishment of the Observatory, the fixed institutional overheads and the variable operating expenditures for such items as visits to places of 1 GE.13-45918 CAT/OP/12/5. 5