17 3.1. Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture42 The Optional Protocol establishes Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment43. The Subcommittee on Prevention of torture shall visit any places of detention and make recommendations to States Parties concerning the protection of persons deprived of their liberty against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.44 The State Parties to the Optional Protocol undertake: - To receive the Subcommittee on Prevention in their territory; - To grant unrestricted access to all places of detention, their installations and facilities, and liberty to choose such places; - The opportunity to have private interviews with the persons deprived of their liberty without witnesses, either personally or with a translator if deemed necessary, as well as with any other person who the Subcommittee on Prevention believes may supply relevant information; - To grant the Subcommittee on Prevention unrestricted access to all information concerning the number of persons deprived of their liberty in places of detention, the number of places and their location, unrestricted access to all information referring to the treatment of those persons as well as their conditions of detention, as well as to provide all relevant information the Subcommittee on Prevention may request to evaluate the needs and measures that should be adopted to strengthen the protection of persons deprived of their liberty against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; - To examine the recommendations of the Subcommittee on Prevention and enter into dialogue with it on possible implementation measures.45 The Subcommittee on Prevention has not yet visited Serbia. 3.2. National Preventive Mechanisms (NPM) According to the Optional Protocol, each State Party must set up, designate or maintain at the domestic level one or several visiting bodies for the prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment46 NPM is entitled to: - Access to all information concerning the number of persons deprived of their liberty in places of detention, as well as the number of places and their location; - Access to all places of detention and their installations and facilities, with the liberty to choose such places; - The opportunity to have private interviews with the persons deprived of their liberty without witnesses, either personally or with a translator if deemed necessary, as well as with any other person who the NPM believes may supply relevant information, by its own choice47. NPM is authorised to regularly examine the treatment of the persons deprived of their liberty in places of detention, to make recommendations to the relevant authorities with the aim of improving the treatment and the conditions of the persons deprived of their liberty and to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, taking into www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/opcat/. Article 2, paragraph 1 of the Optional Protocol. 44 Article 11, item (а) of the Optional Protocol. 45 Articles 12 and 14 of the Optional Protocol. 46 Article 3 of the Optional Protocol. 47 Article 20 of the Optional Protocol. 42 43