7 The Parliamentary Ombudsman’s Prevention Mandate On 14 May 2013, the Storting voted in favour of Norway ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT). The Storting awarded the task of exercising the mandate set out in OPCAT to the Parliamentary Ombudsman. In 2014, the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) was established as a separate department to address this area of the Ombudsman’s work. The Parliamentary Ombudsman, represented by the NPM, conducts regular visits to places where people are deprived of their liberty, such as prisons, police custody facilities, mental healthcare institutions and child welfare institutions. The visits can be both announced and unannounced. The NPM has the right of access to all places of detention and the right to speak in private with people who have been deprived of their liberty. The NPM also has the right to access all necessary information that is relevant to the conditions of people deprived of their liberty. During its visits, the NPM seeks to identify risk factors for human rights violations by making its own observations and through interviews with the people involved. Interviews with people deprived of their liberty are given special priority. As part of its prevention efforts, the NPM engages in extensive dialogue with national authorities, control and supervisory bodies in the public admin­ istration, other ombudsmen, civil society, NPMs in other countries and international organisations in the human rights field. An advisory committee has been established that contributes expertise, information, advice and input to the prevention work. 1 The UN Convention against Torture The UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment states that torture and inhuman treatment are strictly prohibited, and that no exceptions can be made from this prohibition under any circumstances. States that endorse the convention are obliged to prohibit, prevent and punish all use of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. According to the Convention, each State party shall “ensure that its competent authorities proceed to a prompt and impartial investigation, wherever there is reasonable ground to believe that an act of torture [or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment] has been committed in any territory under its jurisdiction”.1 Norway ratified the Convention against Torture in 1986. The prohibition against torture is set out in various parts of Norwegian legislation, including Article 93 of the Norwegian Constitution. — The UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment states that torture and inhuman treatment are strictly prohibited, and that no exceptions can be made from this prohibition under any circumstances. UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment articles 12 and 16. —