NORWEGIAN PARLIAMENTARY OMBUDSMAN National Preventive Mechanism ANNUAL REPORT 2018 22 Need for better training in documenting torture injuries Another area of concern for the committee was findings relating to the prison staff and health personnel’s limited knowledge of how torture injuries should be efficiently investigated and documented. The committee recommended that all health personnel and public servants working with persons deprived of their liberty be given training based on the Istanbul Protocol. This is the UN’s manual for effective investigation and documentation of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.6 The committee also recommended that the authorities provide obligatory training relating to the rules of the UN Convention against Torture and on the absolute prohibition against torture for police and prison staff, judges, prosecuting authorities, and defence lawyers. Head of the NPM Helga Fastrup Ervik presents the NPM findings for the UN Committee against Torture. Challenges relating to the serving of sentences in another state The committee’s final point was related to Norway leasing prison places in the Netherlands. It was recommended that the Norwegian authorities refrain from leasing prison places outside their territory.7 The authorities were also requested to ensure that public monitoring bodies like the NPM are entitled to monitor and supervise the conditions in all prisons and other places where people are deprived of their liberty. Persons deprived of their liberty are subject to particular risk Overall, the committee’s observations show that several aspects of the way in which persons deprived of their liberty in Norway are treated give rise to international concern. The placement of inmates with severe mental health conditions in isolation gives rise to particularly great concern about violations of the prohibition against torture and ill-treatment. The areas of concern highlighted by the committee are very much in line with the NPM's findings after 50 visits to places in which people are deprived of their liberty between 2014 and 2018. Both the committee’s observations and the NPM's findings indicate that there is a need for targeted efforts on the part of the Norwegian authorities to prevent violations of the prohibition against torture and inhuman treatment. 6 The Istanbul Protocol, Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Professional training series no. 8/Rev. 1, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva and New York, 2004. 7 The lease between Norway and the Netherlands was terminated on 1 September 2018.