Commissioner for Human Rights, Hanna Machińska, Ph.D. Pursuant to OPCAT provisions, employees of national preventive mechanisms should have relevant skills and diversified professional knowledge as well as constitute a representation of men and women. Staff members working for the Mechanism have relevant education in the fields of law, sociology, political sciences, rehabilitation, psychology and criminology. The NMPT Department is supported by employees of the Commissioner for Human Rights’ regional representative offices located in Gdańsk, Wrocław and Katowice. Pursuant to the agreement concluded between the NMPT and CHR’s regional representatives, in each regional office an employee has been designated who, apart from working for the office, also participates in 3 preventive visits under the Mechanism, held in establishments located in the area for which a given CHR’s representative is responsible. • Composition of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of the Torture in 2019: Przemysław Kazimirski – Director of the NMPT; lawyer Marcin Kusy – Deputy Director; lawyer Grażyna Kalisiewicz – employee of the secretary’s office, lawyer Justyna Jóźwiak, Ph.D. – sociologist Rafał Kulas – lawyer Justyna Zarecka – political scientist in the field of internal security Klaudia Kamińska – lawyer Michał Żłobecki – lawyer Aleksandra Osińska – psychologist Aleksandra Nowicka – criminologist, security specialist (in NMPT since 10.06.2019) Magdalena Dziedzic – lawyer (in NMPT since 1.07.2019) Tomasz Górecki – psychologist, psychotherapist (in NMPT until 30.06.2019) • During the visits, the team is supported by external experts: physicians – psychiatrists, geriatricians, internal medicine doctors as well as professionals specializing in issues that constitute the focus of NMPT visits. • In 2019 the NMPT commenced discussions concerning the cooperation with Polski Czerwony Krzyż [Polish Red Cross] (PCK). The cooperation is supposed to consist in using the assistance of PCK medical experts during the NMPT’s visits to places of detention as well as in mutual promotion of the activities of the CHR and PCK. Report of the Commissioner for Human Rights on the activities of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture in Poland in 2019 9