operation of the Reception Centre for Victims of Trafficking”. Again, this is not an
exhaustive list; there are a number of Decisions of the Council of Ministers in place, as well
as other handbooks and working documents, the enforcement of which will be a guarantee to
the enjoyment of the said rights.
5. NPM organisational structure, institutional representation and cooperation
During 2015, the NPM operated with a multidisciplinary structure consisting of five
assistant commissioners, part of the civil service of the Republic of Albania, of whom three legal
experts, a psychiatrist and a clinical psychologist. With the amendments made to the Law No.
8454, dated 04.02.1999 “On the Ombudsman”, as amended, it was anticipated that the NPM will
be led by a Commissioner, therefore in 2015 the Ombudsman announced several times the
vacancy for the position of the Commissioner, but due to the lack of the required number of
candidates participating, and failure to meet professional criteria, the selection process of
candidates for Commissioner has been impossible to be conducted. Since the beginning of
October 2014 until the end of October 2015, the Albanian NPM under the conduct of the
Ombudsman, successfully chaired the South East Europe NPM Network, a network established
in 2013 on the basis of the South East Europe Declaration of Cooperation, signed by the
Ombudsmen of Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovenia,
Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Greece and Romania. In fulfillment of the scope of
this specified network, including OPCAT, for enhancing cooperation, experience sharing and
arrangement of further joint activities with a view to an inherent realization of the NPM mandate
in the region, the Albanian NPM realized two seminars and a conference in Tirana. The first
seminar, entitled “Health services provided to persons deprived of liberty in the region of SouthEastern Europe: Problems and achievements revealed during the practice of the mechanisms and
challenges to prevent maltreatment through the use of physical restraint and isolation”, held on
29 - 30 June in 2015, brought together the medical group of the network. The second seminar
entitled “Challenges, concerns, and the need for common monitoring standards of South-East
European mechanisms in the context of Migration” held on 29 October 2015, brought together
the legal group of the network. The Conference “Towards common standards for monitoring the
treatment of asylum seekers, refugees and illegal immigrants in South East Europe”, held on
October 30, 2015 addressed the emergency issue of illegal immigration.
All these three international events were attended not only by representatives of the
Network, but representatives of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), the Sub-Committee for the Prevention of Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading (SPT), the Association for the Prevention of Torture
(APT), European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation of External Borders
of the Member States of the European Union (Frontex), the Agency of the United Nations for
Refugees (UNHCR), Presence in Albania Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE), the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Justice, Department of Border and Migration
Directorate General of Prisons, etc.
During 2015 the National Preventive Mechanism against Torture closely cooperated
with the Committee for Prevention of Torture (CPT) and the Stationed Nations SubCommittee for Prevention of Torture (SPT), the Association for Prevention of Torture (APT)
and the OSCE Presence in the countries of the Region to ensure a quality oversight and
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