A/HRC/34/54/Add.1 102. The National Human Rights Commission has a mandate to monitor all types of detention centres through unannounced visits and confidential interviews with inmates and their families, in accordance with its founding legislation (see Law No. 2010-031 of 20 July 2010, art. 4). However, allegedly owing to limited resources, the Commission has been unable to pursue such visits since 2012.20 103. Consequently, the operationalization of the National Preventive Mechanism against Torture, following the adoption of Law No. 2015-034 and in accordance with the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, is of utmost urgency. The Mechanism will be authorized to conduct scheduled and unscheduled visits to all places of deprivation of liberty and to receive and channel complaints to the competent authorities (art. 3). 104. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the appointment in April 2016 of the members of the Mechanism and stresses the importance of providing the Mechanism with full administrative and financial autonomy to carry out its mandate. Its set-up should guarantee complete impartiality and independence and its members must act with integrity and professionalism. Access to all locations where individuals are deprived of their liberty must be guaranteed, including detention facilities, penitentiaries, gendarmerie and police stations and other, less traditional, places of deprivation of liberty. 105. It is furthermore hoped that the Mechanism can contribute to establishing the right to complain not only in law but also in practice, by serving as an additional means for channelling complaints of torture and ill-treatment (while not replacing the responsibilities of prosecutors and magistrates). 7. Impunity for crimes of the past 106. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the efforts made by the Government of Mauritania and civil society to adress the serious and widespread human rights violations that occurred during the passif humanitaire in the late 1980s and early 1990s. 107. Unresolved matters remain, however, and cannot simply be wished away. While the Special Rapporteur recognizes the utility of laws such as the 1993 amnesty law, he also recalls that, for Mauritania to enter a new era of social unity, under international law a blanket amnesty cannot be applied to prevent the investigation of international crimes, a category that includes torture, mass deportation and extrajudicial killings. Such offences must be investigated and those responsible must be prosecuted and punished; amnesties and statutes of limitations must not be applied. 108. To this day, no independent investigation has been conducted into the crimes committed during the passif humanitaire, and no one has been brought to justice. Victims of the crisis, in particular torture victims, and their families must have effective remedies available to them. 109. The ongoing impunity for these past crimes continues to be an obstacle to reconciliation in Mauritania, causes mistrust between communities and breeds impunity for abuses committed today. The Special Rapporteur calls upon the Government of Mauritania to address this issue urgently and to bring alleged perpetrators before a court of law. 20 18 See the annual report of the National Human Rights Commission on the situation of human rights in Mauritania, covering the period 2013-2014.