1.2 Activities of the NPM When implementing its duties and powers, the NPM visits all the places of deprivation of liberty in the Republic of Slovenia (in consideration of the annual programme of visits) and inspects how persons deprived of their liberty are treated, in order to strengthen their protection against torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or humiliating treatment or punishment. While observing suitable legal norms, the NPM makes recommendations to the relevant authorities to improve the conditions and treatment of such persons, and to prevent torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. In this regard, it may also submit proposals and observations concerning existing or draft legislation. Official places of deprivation of liberty in the Republic of Slovenia include in particular: - Prisons and all their units, and the Radeče Juvenile Correctional Facility; - Residential treatment institutions; - Individual social care institutions – retirement homes and special social care institutions; - Psychiatric hospitals; - Detention rooms in police stations and the Ljubljana Police Detention Centre; - The Aliens Centre and the Asylum Centre; - Detention rooms operated by the Slovenian Armed Forces; - All other locations within the meaning of Article 4 of the Optional Protocol (e.g. police intervention vehicles, etc.). The Ombudsman, in the role as NPM, engages experts with the widest range of recommended specialist knowledge. As the selected NGOs cannot provide certain other suitable experts, and because the Ombudsman does not employ an expert in the field of healthcare, certain external experts had to be engaged. The Ombudsman selected the medical experts on the basis of a public call for proposals for the purpose of recruiting medical experts to help the Ombudsman establish, clarify or evaluate facts indicating torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, or to support the Ombudsman during visits to places of deprivation of liberty with suitable expert knowledge which the Ombudsman lacks. In 2017, we cooperated with Associate Professor Dr Peter Pregelj MD, Psychiatry Specialist, and Assistant Professor Dr Milan Popovič MD, General Surgery Specialist. An individual expert, selected from the list by the Ombudsman according to the type and place of an individual visit, carries out their tasks according to the orders and instructions of the Ombudsman and in cooperation with the Ombudsman’s expert colleagues, by participating in the planned visit and providing written replies to the Ombudsman’s questions in the role of the NPM, and by providing their own findings, particularly on the suitability of healthcare and the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty. The selected NGOs implement their duties and powers with people qualified for individual fields of supervision as members of a group appointed by the Ombudsman for each individual visit. The group implementing supervision is thus composed of the Ombudsman’s representatives, and representatives of the selected organisations, who observe the programme of visits adopted by the Ombudsman in cooperation with the selected organisations and, if necessary, also other circumstances demanding an immediate visit. For each visit, the NPM drafts a comprehensive (final) report on the findings established at the institution visited. This report also covers proposals and recommendations for the elimination of any established irregularities and improvement of the situation, including measures to reduce the possibilities of improper treatment in the future. The Ombudsman’s representatives and the representatives of the selected NGOs cooperate in drafting the site visit report. All participants, including the NGO representatives, must prepare a brief report on their findings together with proposals, which form part of the report on the supervision which took place. The report is submitted to the competent authority (i.e. the superior body of the institution visited) with a proposal that the authority takes a position on the statements or recommendations in the report and submits it to the Ombudsman by a set deadline. The institution visited also receives the report, and in specific cases (when visiting social care institutions, psychiatric hospitals, and juvenile institutions) a preliminary report is also prepared. A representative of the Ombudsman is usually responsible for preparing the site visit report, although a person from the selected NGO may also be appointed for this purpose. On the basis of the final report, the response of the competent authority, and possible additional observations of the NPM, a brief site visit report is published online after each visit.5 5 See: http://www.varuh-rs.si/o-instituciji/podrocja-dela-varuha/varuh-kot-drzavni-preventivni-mehanizem/. 8 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DUTIES AND POWERS OF THE NPM IN 2017 NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM UNDER THE OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO THE UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT