-21 In its 2009 handbook on prisoners with special needs, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) identifies eight groups of prisoners with special needs due to their vulnerability: prisoners with mental health care needs; prisoners with disabilities; ethnic and racial minorities and indigenous peoples; foreign national prisoners; LGBTIQ prisoners; older prisoners; prisoners with terminal illness and prisoners under sentence of death. It may seem curious that women and children are not listed. This is due to the fact that, as mentioned in the publication, the UNODC had produced special handbooks on these categories of prisoners. The publication refers also to other prisoners with special needs and refers to the UNODC publications on prisoners with drug dependence and prisoners with HIV/AIDS.19 The international standards do not present a coherent approach to vulnerability in detention. This is quite clear already from the fact that some groups can benefit from rather elaborate standards, whereas there are almost none that deal with the situation of other groups. The available standards for the different groups differ in scope and in depth. Even though standards for treatment of some vulnerable groups in detention (e.g. women, juveniles) have been in existence at the international level for decades, the focus of preventive monitoring on groups of prisoners in a situation of vulnerability is a relatively new approach. NPMs have a lot to contribute in its development and consolidation. There are different provisions in international treaties to which EU member states or the EU itself are parties that protect persons in a situation of vulnerability. This includes, in the first place, the absolute prohibition of torture and ill-treatment, but also a number of other human rights obligations. A number of provisions of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (Charter) and of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) guarantee rights that are relevant to the situation of vulnerable groups. These include: • Article 4 of the Charter and Article 3 of the ECHR, which prohibit torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; 19. UNDOC, Handbook on prisoners with special needs, UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Vienna, 2009. Prisoners in a Situation of Vulnerability