During the reporting period, in order to better inform society, the NPM maintained practice of releasing quarterly bulletins, which briefly describe activities carried out by the NPM, information on the penitentiary establishments, dynamics of implementation of NPM recommendations, legislative review, information on international events, experts’ opinion, agenda of the upcoming events and etc. In 2017, totally four such bulletins had been published. The NPM regularly disseminated public statements concerning outcomes of the visits to the places of deprivation of liberty. In addition, members of the NPM participated in different TV and radio programs and gave interviews to the printed and internet media outlets. 2.2.4. PARTICIPATION IN INTERNATIONAL EVENTS Representatives of the NPM participated in several international events, among them: A workshop titled “Effective Safeguards to Prevent Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment during Arrest and Pre-trial Detention” was held in Geneva, Switzerland, on October 6, 2017. Speeches were delivered at the workshop by Nils Melzer, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Issues, Jens Modvig, Chairperson of the Committee against Torture, Malcolm Evans, Head of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture, Barbara Burnat, representative of the Association for the Prevention of Torture, and high-ranking judges of Chile and Brazil. It is noteworthy that out of 65 national prevention mechanisms, only representative of Georgia’s National Preventive Mechanism Nika Kvaratskhelia, Head of the Department of Prevention and Monitoring of the Public Defender of Georgia, was invited to the workshop as a rapporteur. On August 7-8, 2017, the international non-governmental organization Penal Reform International organized a working meeting with the UN Committee against Torture (CAT), which aimed to discuss the evaluation methodology of prison overcrowding by the Committee. The meeting was attended by Nika Kvaratskhelia, Head of the Department of Prevention and Monitoring of the Public Defender’s Office of Georgia, who spoke about the issue of prison overcrowding, which has been a problem in Georgia for years. He emphasized that overcrowding was caused by strict criminal policy and shortcomings in criminal justice. On June 2, 2017, Nika Kvaratskhelia, Head of the Department of Prevention and Monitoring of the Public Defender's Office, took part in the working meeting organized by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, which was attended by representatives of the executive authorities of various states, international organizations, national human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations. On 16-17 May, 2017, under the joint program of European Union and the Council of Europe - "Support to the Government of Kazakhstan to Improve the Justice System" the first international forum of the 5