activity of the Mechanism in 2009 to the extent that had been expected. Thus, Article 18(3) and Article 18(4) of the OPCAT were violated again.The Human Rights Defender addressed the Secretary General of the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT), as well as the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) through the High Commissioner for Human Rights. On 17 December 2008, in Geneva, Dr Janusz Kochanowski met the representatives of the APT in person and presented problems with proper implementation of the OPCAT in Poland. This organisation considered the fact of the performance of tasks of the National Preventive Mechanism in Poland by the Human Rights Defender to be a negative example. In its publication from 2008, the APT emphasized that there had been no increase in the number of the National Preventive Mechanism employees, which would have otherwise reflected the performance of new tasks resulting from the Mechanism operation1. In the course of work on the state budget for 2010, the budget of the Office of the Human Rights Defender was reduced by PLN 1.3 million, i.e. by almost the same amount as the one allocated for the NPM operations in 2009. The state budget for 2010 did not allocate any funds to the Office of the Human Rights Defender for the performance of tasks of the Mechanism. Its operations had to be financed from general resources of the Office. This meant that NPM tasks had to be executed at the expense of other activities of the Office and it also entailed significant limitations of the Mechanism’s operations. Thus, it violated Article 18(3) and Article 18(4) of the OPCAT.The Human Rights Defender sent a relevant letter informing about serious financial difficulties of the Mechanism to the Secretary General of the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT), the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT). In 2011, the Sejm reduced the expenditure related to the functioning of the Office of the Human Rights Defender from PLN 36.477 million to PLN 35.424 million. The reduction of the Office’s budget triggered the reduction of the funds to cover the operational costs of the National Preventive Mechanism in 2011, from PLN 1.740 million to PLN 1.265 million. Undoubtedly, the abovementioned Article 18(3) and (4) of the OPCAT were violated also in 2011. 4. International cooperation Due to the development of National Preventive Mechanisms in Europe, their members see a growing need to exchange their experience. International cooperation between NMPs is aimed at elaborating a common position regarding the broadly understood protection against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, as well as at standardizing the methodology of preventive visits.   On 27 and 28 January 2010 in Padua, as part of the “European NPM Project"2, the first meeting of national mechanisms’ contact persons took place. The meeting was                                                              1 National Human Rights Commissions and Ombudspersons’ Office / Ombudsmen as National Preventive Mechanisms under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, APT 2008. 2 The project for active cooperation between European NPMs, co-financed by the Council of Europe and the European Union. The subject of the workshop is “Organising, conducting and reporting preventive visits to various detention places: Exchange of experiences between the National Preventive Mechanism and experts of