ANNUAL REPORT OF 2019 ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE SEIMAS OMBUDSMEN’S OFFICE OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA carried out of the implementation of the Seimas Ombudsmen’s recommendations. There are about 50 visits per year to places of detention. In performing the national prevention of torture, it was ascertained that the prevention of torture and other violations of human rights is important and has positive effects such as: detection of various types of human rights violations that were not known during the investigation of complaints, drawing attention of the institutions to the problems and aspects that are likely to give rise to the violation of rights of individuals in places of detention, the promotion of a progressive, respectful approach to attain the long-term goal of ensuring that the rights of persons in places of detention are not violated. The ongoing national prevention of torture is an important contribution to the improvement of the human rights situation in the country through the implementation of the recommendations made to Lithuania by the United Nations (hereinafter also – the UN) Human Rights Council and various other international institutions. National Human Rights Institution The origin and scope of activities of national human rights institutions (hereinafter also – the NHRI) are closely linked to the international mechanism of the protection of human rights. The concept of the NHRI activities was formulated by the UN General Assembly in 1993 in Resolution No 48/134, which encourages Member States to set up NHRIs, emphasizes the need for such institutions to adhere to the principles defining their status, the operational guidelines and the main requirements (designated as the Paris Principles). The adopted document foresees that the status of the NHRI is assigned to the country’s institutions if they are independent and able to ensure that international human rights organizations will be provided with the objective insights (opinion) on the progress of EVERYONE COUNTS 8 human rights in the country, they shall be able to, independently of the executive power of the State, participate in the discussion of the reports generated by the State in implementing requirements of the provisions of the UN Convention for the Protection of Human Rights. On 23 March 2017, the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights accredited the Seimas Ombudsmen’s Office as an NHRI (Status ‘A’) in line with the Paris Principles. On 7 December 2017, the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter also – the Seimas) passed the Law (entered into force on 1 January 2018) amending Articles 3, 19 and 191 of the Law No. VIII950 on the Seimas Ombudsmen and adding Article 192 which defined new areas of competence of the Seimas Ombudsmen in the exercise of the following functions attributable to the National Human Rights Institution: