3 14 visits to prisons, including most of the prisons with high-security sections for women. The report identified a number of conditions that lead to women serving under poorer conditions than men, which defies international standards in this area. In addition to the broad launch of the report here in Norway, it was translated and submitted to the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). You can read more about this in the annual report. This annual report also contains three articles on important topics that require increased attention. The first deals with body searches, and the second with the right to information. Many findings have been made in both these areas, and recommendations have been made across several sectors in 2016. The third article takes a closer look at the important role institutional culture and management can play in safeguarding patients’ rights and preventing inhuman and degrading treatment. Emphasis is given here to the fact that an unfortunate culture and inadequate management can present a risk of violations. The article is written on the basis of findings and observations during visits to mental health care institutions relating to the importance of good institutional culture. The Parliamentary Ombudsman’s human rights seminar in October was on the topic of legal protection guarantees in mental health care. The main question asked was ‘How are patients’ rights protected in connection with the use of force?’ Patients subject to use of force in mental health care are in a particularly vulnerable situation and their need for legal protection is therefore great. The prevention mandate is based on international conventions. Cooperation with other countries is an important element in the work – in part to learn from others’ experience and also to support other countries’ prevention efforts. We therefore try to participate in relevant international cooperation forums. In November, the NPM was thus invited to Geneva to attend the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture’s (SPT) celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture. The NPM gave a talk on Norway's experience from the triangular cooperation between the SPT, the states and the preventive mechanisms. State parties, the UN system, civil society and representatives of a number of preventive mechanisms attended the event. As mentioned, the scope of the preventive efforts was expanded in 2016 to include visits to child welfare institutions and mental health care institutions for children and young people. In 2017, the focus on children and young people deprived of their liberty will continue, including by making visits to child welfare institutions, but also to prisons for juvenile and young inmates. We will continue to develop our methods in all areas to ensure that we address the prevention mandate under OPCAT as expediently and efficiently as possible. Aage Thor Falkanger Parliamentary Ombudsman