Presentation This second report submitted by the Office of the Ombudsman of Spain in its role as NPM covers activities in 2011, and represents the outcome of work in the service of particularly vulnerable persons. Spain’s international commitment to the prevention of torture and mistreatment through a specific system for monitoring places of deprivation of liberty, as expressed in its ratification of the OPCAT and the subsequent designation of the Ombudsman of Spain as the NPM, requires us to continue our efforts to perform this important task. This second year of activity has been marked by significant innovations made as a result of our wish to take our commitment in the service of our citizens to the next level. Independent technical specialists in certain scientific disciplines have been incorporated into the inspection visits made in order to provide new perspectives for analysis; the use of photographs to document the condition of facilities has been generalised, and the methods have been enhanced to obtain better information on the opinions, problems and concerns of persons deprived of their liberty. As the NPM, the Office of the Ombudsman forms part of the array of guarantees of fundamental rights contained in Spain’s body of law. It is also the representation at national level of a system of international law, completing the circle formed by the SPT (UN Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture). Efforts have been made to strengthen the preventive aspect of this task, in line with SPT doctrine, and to cooperate with other NPMs, particularly those of other European Union Member States, and with the Council of Europe with a view to sharing experiences and objectives. The Spanish parliament has recently reformulated the regulations governing the organisation and workings of the Office of the Ombudsman to regulate the NPM Advisory Council, pursuant to Subsection 2 of the Sole Final Provision of the Public General Act on the Ombudsman, in the wording enacted under Public General Act 1/2009 of November 3. The Council is defined in law as a “technical and legal cooperation body for the exercising of the functions of the National Preventive Mechanism”, and as such will be a forum for dialogue and cooperation with civil society and with accredited specialists. Once all its members have been designated the institutional design pursued by law-makers will be complete, with the Office of the Ombudsman of Spain as the NPM and an Advisory Council available to cooperate with it on the terms laid down in the relevant regulations. I would like to recall here my words a year ago when I presented the first NPM annual report: “With budgetary constraints in mind, all this has been done through the reallocation of in-house personnel. This has required extra efforts by all the services in our institution, which I should like to publicly acknowledge here”. This statement remains true today, and is worth repeating. THE OMBUDSMAN OF SPAIN   5