I General information about the work of the National Agency 1 History and legal foundation of the National Agency The prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is already set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from 1948.3 The cornerstone in the active “fight against torture” was however laid by the United Nations Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment of 10 December 19844 (UN Anti-Torture Convention). The Convention obliges the States to prevent any act of torture and to make torture offences punishable. The Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment of 18 December 2002 (OP-CAT) supplements the UN Anti-Torture Convention and applies a preventive method. It is orientated in line with the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which established a system of preventive visits in the States of the Council of Europe in 1987.5 The Optional Protocol also provides to strengthen protection against torture and mistreatment by means of a system of visits. To this end, Article 3 OP-CAT entails an obligation to set up national preventive mechanisms which are to supplement the work of the also newly-created Subcommittee on the prevention of torture (SPT). Germany signed the Optional Protocol on 20 September 2006 and ratified it on 4 December 2008. The Optional Protocol came into force for the Federal Republic of Germany on 3 January 2009 in terms of international law. As the National Agency, the Federal Agency and the Joint Commission together form the German mechanism for the prevention of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in accordance with the Optional Protocol to the UN Anti-Torture Convention. The Federal Agency was established by means of an Administrative Order of the Federal Ministry of Justice of 20 November 2008. It is responsible for all 360 places where people are deprived of their liberty within the remit of the Federation, i.e. detention facilities of the Federal Armed Forces (Bundeswehr), of the Federal Police (Bundespolizei) and of the customs authorities. The Joint Commission operates on the basis of a State Treaty, which entered into Resolution of the UN General Assembly 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948. Resolution of the UN General Assembly 39/46 of 10 December 1984. 5 ETS No. 126 of 26 November 1987. 3 4 12