The Protector of Citizens has for a long period of time had very intensive collaboration with
NPM of Slovenia. In the last period, several mutual visits have been undertaken with a view to
discussing issues important for PDLs as well as issues referring to the organization and
activities of NPM. During the last visit to Slovenia from 27 to 29 September, a joint tour of one of
the prisons in the vicinity of Ljubljana was undertaken, on which occasion the methodology
and/or the procedures applied by NPM of Slovenia were observed firsthand.
The Protector of Citizens has continued previously established cooperation with Ombudsman of
Spain, and during a number of contacts experience was exchanged with NPM of Macedonia, the
Czech Republic, Lithuania, Switzerland, the UK, Albania, Azerbaijan…
2.6. Education programs
The employees in the Expert Services of the Protector of Citizens have in the course of the past
years undergone numerous educational trainings on the position of PDLs, prevention of torture
and any other form of abuse. The speakers were renowned experts in the field concerned, inter
alia: Manfred Novak, Eric Rosenthal, Matthew Pringle, Marco Mona, Renco Bonn, Ivan Selih,
Dainius Puras, Douvile Joudicate, Jan Pfeiffer and Robert Van Voren, as well as a considerable
number of national experts.
The representatives of the Ombudsman Office attended a seminar entitled “Ombudsman and
OPCAT” held in Warsaw, Poland from 13 to14 September, 2011.
With the support provided by the OSCE Mission to Serbia, a number of education programs
have been executed:
In period between 27 and 29 September the representatives of the Protector of Citizens, along
with the Provincial Ombudsman, paid a study visit to NPM of Slovenia in Ljubljana, whose
model is quite similar to Serbia’s NPM model. During the visit a joint tour of one of the prisons
in the vicinity of Ljubljana was conducted, on which occasions the methodology and/or the
procedures applied by NPM of Slovenia were observed firsthand.
On 13 October Mathew Pringle a representative from APT paid a working visit to the Protector
of Citizens, the purpose of which was to share experiences from this field, give a talk on the
subject of organization and position of NPM unit within the Ombudsman office, provide
examples of good and bad practice regarding the NPM organization and elaborate on different
aspects of relationship between Ombudsman and NGOs regarding the work of NPM.
In last period, several workshops have been organised on the position of PDLs, prevention of
torture and other forms of ill-treatment. Special attention has been paid on the situation in
psychiatric hospitals in Serbia. Representatives of the Provincial Ombudsman and NGO
representatives took part in the work of the roundtables.
2.7. Visibility
2.7.1. Website of the NPM
The website of the Serbian NPM (www.lls.rs) containing information about all the activities of
the NPM, information about the visits, information regarding recommendations addressed to
the authorities, publications etc. has been installed. All the relevant legal documents national
and international alike are going to be available on the website. For the time being the website
is only available in Serbian language, and the English version is under way.
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents