By being entrusted with the tasks and powers of the NPM, the Ombudsman became an integral part of a generally applicable system under the auspices of the United Nations, which enforces (additional) mechanisms for the prevention of torture and other forms of ill-treatment of people deprived of liberty at the international and national levels. This system is particularly based on regular visits to places of deprivation of liberty. The purpose of these preventive visits is to prevent torture or other ill-treatment before it occurs. A special NPM unit has been operating under the auspices of the Ombudsman since 2015, which does not examine individual complaints, but visits places of deprivation of liberty and conducts other NPM tasks. The separation of both Ombudsman’s activities has thus been ensured, i.e. of the preventive one conducted by the NPM and the responsive one that includes the discussion of complaints received. The need for this separation is explicitly stipulated in Item 32 of the Guidelines on National Preventive Mechanisms (SPT)7 adopted at the 12th session in Geneva between 15 and 19 November 2010, which stipulates that “where the body designated as the NPM performs other functions in addition to those under the Optional Protocol, its NPM functions should be located within a separate unit or department, with its own staff and budget”. The implementation of tasks and powers of the NPM is thus much more organised and effective. The improved organisation of work contributes to better preparation for individual visits, their execution and the drafting of reports on visits. The operations of the Ombudsman’s special internal organisational unit, which implements only the tasks and powers of the NPM, were also determined in 2017 by the Act Amending the Human Rights Ombudsman Act (ZVarCP-B; Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia [Uradni list RS], No. 54/17) in Article 50c, stipulating that the work of the National Preventive Mechanism is managed by a Deputy Ombudsman authorised by the Ombudsman for a certain period. In addition to the Deputy Ombudsman and the Head of the NPM, Mr Ivan Šelih, the following Ombudsman’s advisers participated in the NPM unit: Robert Gačnik, BA in Criminal Justice and Security, specialist in criminal investigation (responsible particularly for visiting prisons, police stations, alien and asylum centres), mag. Jure Markič, BA in Law (responsible for visiting social care institutions and psychiatric hospitals), and Ana Polutnik, BA in Law, who also discusses individual complaints (responsible for visiting residential treatment institutions and other places of the deprivation of liberty of children). 7 Available at http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/OPCAT/Pages/NationalPreventiveMechanisms.aspx. 7 1.1 GENERAL ensured with the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia and the Human Rights Ombudsman Act.