Introduction Introduction The main focus of this report is the monitoring visits conducted in the year under review for the protection of human rights as well as the observations and recommendations made after the visits. Preventive monitoring to protect human rights This volume is divided into two chapters: chapter 1 provides an overview of the work of the AOB and its commissions as the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM). The basis is the preventive mandate, which is explained in more detail at the beginning. This includes the framework for executing the mandate as well as information on the personnel and budgetary resources. The most important figures are presented in the following statistics section: the number of monitoring visits, the distribution across the different institutions and Laender as well as the most important areas of criticism. The numbers are based on evaluations from the visit report database implemented for the NPM work, which comprises the data recorded by the commissions anonymously. Statistics on monitoring The many international activities are the subject matter at the end of chapter 1. They ensure a regular exchange of experience with comparable organisations from other countries and pursue the goal of further developing the monitoring methodology and standards in particular. The results of the monitoring work are presented in detail in chapter 2. Most of the monitoring visits were carried out in institutions and facilities in which the freedom of individuals is restricted. Due to the large number of monitoring visits – over 500 in the year under review –it became necessary to make a selection of the main results to be presented in this report. This section of the report thus focuses on frequently observed risks and problems that can be attributed to system-related deficits. These include human rights violations that are not simply attributable to accidents or the failure of individuals but to shortfalls on the part of organisations or operators and to a lack of resources. In addition to system-related deficits, individual cases are presented where serious violations of human rights were observed by the commissions. Detailed reports on investigations results The NPM does not see its sole task in pointing out deficits. Rather the goal is to mitigate risks and rectify deficits as quickly as possible. For this reason, information about the subsequent processes is also included, in particular, the reaction of the responsible authorities, or already achieved improvements. Rectify deficits and minimise risks Concrete recommendations are formulated for the institutions and facilities from the results of the monitoring visits. These can be found at the end of the respective monitoring reports. Unlike in previous years, all of the recommendations that the NPM has made since taking up its work are not included in this report, as they would inflate the scope of an annual report unnecessarily. The complete list of recommendations is available on the AOB website. 10