Overview of the National Preventive Mechanism A delegation of the Ombudsperson Institution of Kosovo came to Vienna for a three-day meeting. The Kosovan ombudsman institution was entrusted with the NPM mandate in 2015. The main focus was on the monitoring methodology, the treatment and processing of individual complaints from detained persons and the involvement of external experts when visiting institutions and facilities. Members of the commissions and the Human Rights Advisory Council provided insight into the work of the NPM. Study visit from Kosovo The Anti-Torture Committee of the Lebanese national armed forces visited Vienna in November. The stay was organised by the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces. The focus was on the working methods and the organisation of the Austrian NPM. The delegation was accompanied by the former Serbian ombudsman, Saša Jankovic, who presented the torture prevention structures in the Republic of Serbia. This facilitated the exchange of experience between Austria, Serbia and the Lebanon concerning police detention and the penal system. The delegation gained an insight into everyday practice on ensuing tours of the Korneuburg correctional institution and the Roßauer Lände police detention centre. Experts from the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Federal Ministry of Justice answered the many questions posed by the guests. Lebanese Anti-Torture Committee At the end of the year, experts from the AOB welcomed a delegation of human rights officers from the Ukrainian Parliament to an exchange of information, and presented both the preventive and ex-post working methods in Austria. The focus of the meeting was on questions surrounding the protection of privacy in view of the close cooperation with the media, notably the weekly TV programme “BürgerAnwalt” (“Advocate for the People”). The study visit was organised by the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights as part of a twinning project. The goal of the project is to strengthen the Ukrainian ombudsman institution. The AOB contributes content to this project by providing experts. Ukraine twinning project Furthermore, an expert from the AOB took part in a conference of the Council of Europe dealing with the issue of “Children in detention pending forced return”. The same expert also participated in a United Nations expert seminar on the topic of “The use of force: police work at assemblies and accountability”. 1.6 Report fo the Human Rights Advisory Council The Human Rights Advisory Council met five times at plenary meetings in 2017. In addition to these plenary meetings, the Human Rights Advisory Council also met at meetings of the working groups and prepared statements on the preventive protection of human rights and draft recommendations of the NPM. The Human Rights Advisory Council also evaluated NPM visit Constructive cooperation 21