CHAPTER 4. Legal Awareness One of the directions of the Azerbaijani NPM is organization of legal awareness work addressed at the persons detained in the places which a person cannot leave on his own will and service personnel working with them. The preamble of the OPCAT states that the effective prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment requires education and a combination of various legislative, administrative, judicial and other measures. The meetings, seminars and trainings based on national and international legislation provisions, the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and other international standards were organized in children’s houses and boarding schools, different state agencies, Scientific-Education Centers of Armed Forces, the Academies of law-enforcement bodies, military units, penitentiary institutions. The scheduled and continuous trainings carried out upon national and international standards assume high importance from the standpoint of popularization of the NPM, support to its activity, capacity building and legal awareness, as well as implementation of recommendations of this kind. During the public hearings carried out in 57 cities and raions of the republic conducted with participation of representatives of local state bodies and civil society organizations with the aim of monitoring and evaluation the status of coordination, promotion and implementation of measures considered in the National Program to Raise Effectiveness of Protection of human rights and freedoms in the Republic of Azerbaijan approved by the Decree of the country President, the Commissioner carried out meetings with heads and personnel of raion (city) police bodies, the legal awareness work was conducted with them, the importance of special attention to ensuring human rights and freedoms was brought to point, the cooperation in this field was discussed, the legal publications, manuals, the posters on hot-line, learning of these materials and their use in trainings, practical application were recommended. The awareness activities devoted to the 10th anniversary of entering into force of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment were among main topics of legal awareness events. As a continuation of these activities, at the Commissioner’s initiative, in compliance with the paragraph 4.1 of the National Program for Actions to Raise the Effectiveness of protection of human rights and freedoms in the 71