A/HRC/13/39/Add.2 32. In January 2009, Parliament adopted Law 18.446 establishing the National Human Rights Institution (Institución National de Derechos Humanos, INDDHH), which was also designed as the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT). INDDHH will be chaired by a five-member Directive Council. The members of the Council will be elected for a term of five years by a Special Commission of Parliament, which shall be composed of representatives of all political parties. INDDHH is mandated to conduct unannounced visits to places of detention, hospitals, military institutions and any other place where persons are deprived of their liberty. Furthermore, INDDH can investigate human rights violations, file criminal complaints and habeas corpus petitions, and can request the Government to take precautionary measures in order to stop human rights violations. 33. INDDHH will be established after Parliament resumes its session following the presidential elections in October 2009. 34. The Special Rapporteur was impressed by the important and serious work carried out by the Parliamentary Commissioner and his staff.31 He therefore recommends that the institutional knowledge acquired by the Commissioner and his support office be used as the basis for the National Preventive Mechanism under OPCAT, the National Human Rights Institution. 5. Legal provisions regarding psychiatric institutions 35. Law No. 9.581 on Psychopaths from 1936 provides for an open and a closed wing in each psychiatric institution.32 The closed wing is foreseen for persons who are involuntarily interned on the basis of a medical order, or a police or judicial decision.33 The law also created the post of Inspector General for Psychopaths (Inspector General), responsible for the overall inspection and surveillance of public and private mental health assistance. The Inspector General may, inter alia, conduct unannounced visits and general inspections,34 and receive complaints.35 36. A patient can only be involuntarily interned for medical reasons and can never be deprived of liberty for “correctional” reasons. Such internment requires a medical attestation of the medical doctor treating the patient, a declaration signed by the closest relative or the legal representative of the patient, and an attestation by two doctors of a psychological disease.36 III. Assessment of the situation A. Acts of torture and ill-treatment in places of detention 37. On the basis of discussions with public officials, judges, lawyers and representatives of civil society, interviews with victims of violence and with persons deprived of their liberty, often supported by forensic medical evidence, the Special Rapporteur found a 31 32 33 34 35 36 GE.09-17655 Comisionado Parlamentario, Informes de Actuación y Evaluación del Sistema Penitenciario, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, at www.parlamento.gub.uy/Portadas/index1024.html. Article 10 Law No. 9.581. Articles 10 (b) and 13 Law No. 9.581. Article 18 and article 41 (c) Law No. 9.581. Article 41 (g) Law No. 9.581. Article 15 Law No. 9.581. 9