CAT/C/UZB/CO/5 Ministry of Internal Affairs for investigation. It is also alarmed that, after completing his investigations, he found no evidence of torture in any of the 101 complaints received in 2018, and that he reported receiving no complaints regarding misconduct of penitentiary staff. 43. The Committee is concerned that representatives of non-governmental organizations are unable to conduct unannounced monitoring of places of deprivation of liberty; that the International Committee of the Red Cross has not yet agreed to resume visiting places of detention in the State party since it would be unable to follow its standard working procedures; and that diplomats and representatives of the non-governmental organizations allowed to visit places of detention in the State party are accompanied by prison or law enforcement staff at all times (arts. 2, 11–13 and 16). 44. The State party should: (a) Ensure that effective, independent and accessible mechanisms are available to all persons deprived of their liberty; complaints (b) Take measures to strengthen the independence and capacity of the ombudsman to carry out his reactive function to respond to complaints of torture and ill-treatment in places of detention; (c) Take measures to ensure that all places of detention are subject to independent, effective and regular monitoring and inspection without prior notice, that monitors identify conditions or conduct in places of deprivation of liberty amounting to torture or ill-treatment and that monitors report publicly on their findings; (d) Ensure that all persons monitoring places of detention hold confidential, private meetings with persons deprived of their liberty; (e) Ensure that independent non-governmental organizations are able to carry out independent and unannounced monitoring of all places of deprivation of liberty in the State party; (f) Permit the International Committee of the Red Cross to undertake visits to places of detention in the State party in accordance with its standard working procedures. National preventive mechanism 45. The Committee notes that amendments to the law on the ombudsman vested the ombudsman with the authority to conduct preventive visits to all places of deprivation of liberty in cooperation with representatives of civil society organizations. However, the Committee regrets that the State party did not provide the requested information regarding the criteria that will guide the selection of the expert group of civil society members who will be included in the national preventive mechanism that is to be established to allow the ombudsman to carry out this function and did not indicate what measures will be taken to ensure the mechanism’s independence and effectiveness (arts. 2 and 11–16). 46. The State party should: (a) Give further consideration to ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; (b) Consider seeking technical assistance from the United Nations, including advice from the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture on the establishment of the national preventive mechanism, in conformity with article 11 of the Optional Protocol; (c) Take measures to strengthen the ombudsman’s independence, including independence of the ombudsman secretariat staff responsible for facilitating the work of the national preventive mechanism and its financial and operational autonomy; (d) Take measures to ensure that human rights defenders who have received training on and are qualified to undertake monitoring and reporting on torture and ill-treatment in detention facilities are eligible for inclusion in the expert group of the 11