The following provides a brief summary of the National Agency’s most important activities. Detailed information on each topic can be found in the individual chapters of this report. In addition to the visits to care facilities for the elderly, visits were also made to Federal and Land police stations, to general and forensic psychiatric clinics, to customs and prison facilities as well as facilities for custody awaiting deportation [Abschiebungshaft]. In addition, the National Agency accompanied deportations by air from the point of collection until reaching the country of destination. The results of these visits are presented in Chapter V. The reports on the visits are available on the website, partly in anonymised form. In 2018, the National Agency visited a total of 48 facilities and accompanied four deportation procedures. It met six times in order to discuss standards, recommendations and current developments. The Agency focussed its activity on the area of residential care and nursing homes. A large number of findings and recommendations were made on this topic, which are presented in Chapter IV. However, the Agency’s work on this year’s focus topic was not limited to visits to residential care and nursing homes. Together with the Austrian Ombudsman Board – the Austrian National Prevention Mechanism (NPM) – and with the support of the Council of Europe, the National Agency organised for the first time an international NPM conference on the subject of monitoring residential care and nursing homes. The focus of the conference was on the issue of "deprivation of liberty". The National Agency strives to have a preventive effect, and therefore endeavours to disseminate and publicise the findings of its activities as widely as possible. To this end, it carried out numerous activities in addition to its regular visits to places of detention and beyond its main topic for the year under review. On the occasion of the publication of the previous Annual Report, the National Agency once again hosted a reception in Berlin and invited representatives from the facilities it had visited as well as from governmental and nongovernmental bodies and further interested parties. There, it gave a detailed presentation of its area of focus in 2017 (deprivation of liberty by the police) and of the most important conclusions drawn from the visits conducted the previous year. In addition, those in attendance had the chance to exchange ideas with other experts. In her welcoming address, Gyde Jensen, Member of the German Bundestag and Chair of the Bundestag Committee for Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid, emphasised the importance of the National Agency’s work. The Annual Report, she stressed, is a call for political action as well as a welcome guideline for the work of parliamentarians. The National Agency also contributed to the expert discussions organised by the German Institute for Human Rights at the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth to prepare for and follow up th on the 9 session of the UN Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing. The latter is a working group set up by the UN General Assembly in 2010 with the aim of strengthening legal protection and formulating specific rights for older people. In addition, the National Agency established numerous contacts and exchanged views with important stakeholders. For example, the Agency held a discussion with the Federal Government's Nursing Care Representative, State Secretary Andreas Westerfellhaus, as well as talks with the German Association of Care for the Elderly and the Disabled [Verband Deutscher Alten- und Behindertenhilfe e.V.], where the aim was to get to know each other and exchange experiences regarding the visits by the National Agency to residential care and nursing homes. The National Agency also took part in specialist events, focussing in particular on measures involving deprivation of liberty in nursing care th for the elderly, such as the 7 “Werdenfelser Weg” conference. The National Agency maintains a regular exchange with relevant persons in positions of responsibility, such as the head of the division responsible for the Federal Police at the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community. As part of plans to remodel the Federal Police custody facilities in Frankfurt am Main, the National Agency was consulted at an early stage and was requested to make recommendations for the structural design of the facility with regard to human rights aspects. It also took part in an event held by the 10