ÎÎVISITING FUNCTIONS “I believe that the National Preventive Mechanisms are hugely important, they are the main treasure and the essence of the system established by the OPCAT.” Mr. Mykola Gnatovskyy, Chair of the Committee on the Prevention of Torture of the Council of Europe (CPT) In accordance with the provisions of articles 4 and 19 of the Optional Protocol, NPMs shall have the power to conduct visits to any place under the jurisdiction or effective control of the States parties where persons are or may be deprived of their liberty, in order to regularly examine the treatment of persons in those places and to make recommendations to the relevant authorities. I. Access to places where persons are or may be deprived of their liberty In order to fulfil this mandate, NPMs shall have access to all places where they believe persons may be deprived of their liberty. Consistent with a preventive approach, a broad understanding of the meaning of “places of deprivation of liberty” should be adopted (please also see Question 4). NPMs should be able to choose freely the places of deprivation of liberty in which visits are to be carried out, to determine whether the visits will be announced or unannounced, and have unrestricted access to all parts of the premises and facilities. The visits should be primarily unannounced in order to help ascertain the real situation of persons deprived of their liberty. They should also be carried out at various times of the day, including during the night. © UN/OHCHR Photo KEY CRITERIA FOR AN EFFECTIVE NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM I 21