15 Serbia was four years late in the fulfilment of its obligation to have, designate or introduce an independent mechanism for prevention of torture at the national level, which each state is supposed to do in a year time after the Optional Protocol entered into force or after its ratification or accession by the state.54 NPM was established in Serbia under the Law on the Amendments to the Law on the Ratification of the Optional Protocol, adopted on July 28, 2011.55 In line with the consensus reached in the course of the public debate, no new NPM entity was established in Serbia, but an authentic, complex model of the NPM was chosen, which implied that all NPM tasks would be performed by the existing independent state authority in cooperation with the other decentralized units and civil sector. The Protector of Citizens is performing the tasks of the NPM in cooperation with the Autonomous Province Ombudsmen and associations whose statute envisages improvement and protection of human rights and freedoms56. In the course of selection of the complex NPM model in Serbia, all principles related to the status and functioning of the national institutions for the improvement and protection of human rights were taken into account57. The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia58 determines the Protector of Citizens as an independent state authority in charge of the protection of the rights of citizens and of monitoring the work of the public authorities and bodies to which public powers have been delegated59. The Law on the Protector of Citizens60 stipulated that the Protector of Citizens is an independent and autonomous authority in performing his/her task, who protects and takes care of the improvement of the rights of citizens61. In April 2010, it was recognized as an entity that based its activities on the Paris Principles62. The Protector of Citizens is an independent and autonomous state authority, the Protector of Citizens of the universal competence, accredited as a national institution for the human rights with the “A” status before the International Coordinating Committee (ICC). The Protector of Citizens is authorized under the Law on the Protector of Citizens to pay visit to all institutions where persons deprived of their liberty are placed, to personally talk with them and with all staff of that institutions, and also to have access to all data relevant for the attainment of the goal of the prevention activities, irrelevant of the degree of secrecy63. By submission of the ratified enactment to the Secretary General of the UN Optional Protocol, Article 17. 55 Law on the Amendments to the Law on Ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, “Official Gazette of the RS – International Treaties" no. 7/11 56 Law on the Amendments to the Law on Ratification of the Optional Protocol, Article 2а. 57 Optional Protocol, Article 18, item 4. 58 “Official Gazette of the RS”, no. 98/2006 59 Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, Article 138, paragraph 1. 60 “Official Gazette of the RS”, no. 79/2005 and 54/2007 61 Law on the Protector of Citizens, Article 1, paragraphs 1 and 2 and Article 2, paragraph 1. 62 http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/NHRI/Chart_Status_NIs.pdf 63 Law on the Protector of Citizens, Article 21, paragraphs 1 and 2 and Article 22. 53 54