NORWEGIAN PARLIAMENTARY OMBUDSMAN National Preventive Mechanism ANNUAL REPORT 2016 60 The Parliamentary Ombudsman's Human Rights Seminar 2016 The Parliamentary Ombudsman’s annual Human Rights Seminar was held on 19 October. A total of 180 participants attended the seminar on the topic ‘Legal protection guarantees in mental health care’. The seminar formed part of the Ombudsman’s celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture (OPCAT). The programme comprised presentations and panel discussions on issues relating to control and supervisory bodies in mental health care, reduced use of force and the proposed amendments to the Mental Health Care Act. In his opening speech, Ombudsman Aage Thor Falkanger emphasised that the Parliamentary Ombudsman particularly wishes to focus on vulnerable groups, both in the consideration of complaints and in preventive work. Patients subjected to force in the mental health care service are one such group with a great need for legal protection. The seminar opened for broad debate and questions from the floor. The questions discussed included: ››How are patients’ rights protected in connection with the use of force? ››How do the different control and supervisory There was live streaming of the seminar, and video clips of the presentations and panel discussions can be seen on the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s website.¹ Panel discussion on security and integrity in institutions where people are deprived of their liberty This was followed by a panel discussion on the question: How can the integrity and security of people deprived of their liberty be safeguarded? The discussion was based on findings from the NPM’s visits to prisons, police custody facilities, mental health care institutions and the police immigration detention centre at Trandum. The panel participants discussed the following issues: ››Can measures intended to address security issues, prevent people from self-harming and protect them against violence sometimes make the same people more vulnerable? ››How do external factors, relations and environ- ments affect people’s sense of their own worth and feelings such as anger, aggression and powerlessness? ››How does the staff's perception of security relate to that of those deprived of their liberty? bodies work? ››How does less use of force affect patients’ legal protection? ››What consequences can the proposed amendments to the Mental Health Care Act have for patients’ legal protection? 1 See www.sivilombudsmannen.no, under ‘Foredrag og arrangement’ (in Norwegian).