Section one Context About OPCAT and the NPM The Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) is an international human rights treaty designed to strengthen the protection of people deprived of their liberty. Its adoption by the United Nations General Assembly in 2002 reflected a consensus among the international community that people deprived of their liberty are particularly vulnerable to ill-treatment and that efforts to combat such ill-treatment should focus on prevention. OPCAT embodies the idea that prevention of ill-treatment in detention can best be achieved by a system of independent, regular visits to all places of detention. During such visits, the treatment of and conditions for detainees are monitored. States that ratify OPCAT are required to designate a ‘national preventive mechanism’ (NPM), a body or group of bodies that regularly examine the treatment of detainees, make recommendations and comment on existing or draft legislation with the aim of improving treatment and conditions in detention. To carry out its monitoring role effectively, the NPM must be independent of government and the institutions it monitors. OPCAT sets out the powers which NPMs should have, including the ability to: • access all places of detention (including those operated by private providers) • conduct interviews in private with detainees and other relevant people ��� choose which places it wants to visit and who it wishes to interview • access information about the number of people deprived of their liberty, the number of places of detention and their location • access information about the treatment of and conditions for detainees. OPCAT also requires that the NPM be sufficiently resourced to perform its role. Its personnel should have the necessary expertise and be sufficiently diverse to represent the community in which it operates. At the international level, OPCAT established the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT). Made up of 25 experts from around the world, the role of the SPT is both operational and advisory. In its operational capacity, the SPT is able to visit places of detention in any State that has ratified OPCAT and to make recommendations to the State regarding the protection of detainees from ill-treatment. In its advisory capacity, the SPT is required to advise and assist States in the establishment of NPMs and, thereafter, to maintain direct contact with NPMs and offer them training and assistance. Implementation of OPCAT in the UK The UK ratified OPCAT in December 2003 and designated its NPM in March 2009. Designation of the NPM was the responsibility of the UK government and it chose to designate multiple, existing bodies as the NPM rather than create a new, singlebody NPM. This took into account the fact that many types of detention in the UK were already subject to monitoring by independent bodies, as envisaged by OPCAT. In designating existing bodies as members of the NPM, the government explicitly required that they have a statutory basis and be able to make unannounced visits to places of detention. The government concluded that 18 bodies operating in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland met those requirements. These bodies were formally designated as the UK’s NPM in a statement to Parliament 7