PP ANNUAL REPORT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF ACTIVITIES OF THE NPM N PM 1. INTRODUCTION Recognising the importance of the universal fight against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and taking into consideration Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted in 1984 the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Being of the opinion that it was necessary to take further measures to eradicate such treatment from society, at its 57th session on 18 December 2002, the General Assembly of the UN adopted the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (hereinafter referred to as: OPCAT) which became effective on 22 June 2006. Up to June 2013, OPCAT had been signed by sixty-eight Member States of the United Nations. The aim of OPCAT is to establish a system of regular visits by independent international and national bodies to places where persons are deprived of their liberty to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. For that purpose, under OPCAT, a Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment was established (hereinafter referred to as: SPT). In its work, SPT is governed by the principles laid down in the UN Charter and the UN rules relating to the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty. All Member States have thus bound themselves, within a year from the entry into force of the ratification of or accession to OPCAT, to organising at the national level one or several bodies for paying regular visits to places where persons are deprived of their liberty, whose target is to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. These mechanisms are called National Preventive Mechanisms (hereinafter referred to as: NPMs). Although OPCAT does not prescribe the method of establishing NPMs but rather leaves it to the decision of individual Member States, they are required, when establishing this mechanism, to take into consideration the principles governing the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights, the so-called “Paris Principles”. The Republic of Croatia ratified OPCAT on 5 April 2005 (“Official Gazette – International Agreements” no. 2/05) and thus bound itself to maintaining the NPM and ensuring the availability of the necessary means for the undisturbed performance of NPM activities (Article 17 of OPCAT). 1.1 The Act on National Preventive Mechanisms Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Pursuant to Article 93 of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia (“Official Gazette” no. 85/2010), the Ombudsman is a commissioner of the Croatian Parliament for the promotion 7