16 NORWEGIAN PARLIAMENTARY OMBUDSMAN National Preventive Mechanism ANNUAL REPORT 2018 Change requires efforts at several levels The reports and the direct follow-up of the places in question form an important part of the NPM’s work. However, the prevention work is not limited to the institutional level. The NPM's staff The NPM has an interdisciplinary composition. It includes employees with degrees in the fields of law, criminology, sociology, psychology, social science and human rights. In 2018, the NPM has maintained a close dialogue with the public administration, official bodies, supervisory authorities, and civil society (see Chapter 6). If the institutions we visit do not comply with our recommendations, we may need to communicate the challenges to a higher level of authority – at the regional or national level. The Norwegian authorities are obliged to consider the NPM’s recommendations and initiate dialogue on possible implementation measures. The NPM is organised as a separate department under the Parliamentary Ombudsman. We do not consider individual complaints. All the sectors covered by the NPM’s ­mandate have dedicated administrative bodies that are responsible for supervising the sectors. Follow-up of the supervisory bodies is also important to ensure efficient prevention. The fact that the prevention mandate covers all sectors where people may be deprived of their liberty also enables us to point out the weaknesses and strengths of the various supervisory bodies’ focus and working methods. Another important aspect of our preventive work is to raise awareness of the situation of, and the human rights obligations pertaining to, people deprived of their liberty in Norway and of the risk factors we have identified. We do this by contributing to seminars, giving lectures, providing training, and engaging in dialogue with relevant institutions (see the overview of activities in 2018 on page 68.) The NPM also cooperates and exchanges information with international human rights bodies. The NPMs of other countries are important partners. (see Chapter 7 for more information about this work). External experts The NPM has the possibility to call in external expertise for individual visits. External experts are assigned to the NPM's visit team during the preparation for and execution of one or more visits. They can also assist in writing the visit report and provide professional advice and expertise to the visit team. In 2018, the NPM was assisted by external experts at five visits.