Part I: Basis for an effective follow-up Target audience and strategies for dissemination There is also the issue of the manner in which the information is presented and who is the intended audience. Arguably, one might expect the annual report to have a broad readership and interest among not just the state authorities but also the legislature, detainees, civil society and others. In this respect, therefore, making the report, particularly if it contains a significant amount of detail, more user-friendly and accessible may increase the likelihood that its contents will be read and ultimately acted upon. The use of a number of charts, statistics, maps and of photos by the Spanish NPM in its annual report is considered good practice as it presents the information in a more user-friendly way. The publication and dissemination of annual reports is specifically required under article 23 OPCAT, which provides that ‘[t]he States Parties to the present Protocol undertake to publish and disseminate the annual reports of the national preventive mechanisms’. The aim of this obligation is to promote and support transparent working practices and act as a further safeguard for the independence of the NPM. Furthermore, it is also presumed that the dissemination of the annual reports creates an instrument for discussion on the issue of torture prevention at the national level that might also be useful for a debate on the implementation of specific recommendations. For this reason, APT defines annual reports as ‘a tool for advocacy’.71 In order to make the most in terms of visibility, therefore, one would suggest that annual reports should be published in all official language(s) of the country and translated in additional languages (e.g. English) to guarantee a broader circulation. Other options may be making the annual report available in different formats (paper and electronic version) and different platforms, such as its website and via other social media channels or libraries. The French NPM also distributes its annual reports to bookshops for sale and to prison libraries (one copy per library) for the detainees to directly have access to it. Providing executive summaries might further facilitate interest and accessibility, as might press conferences, press releases or bilateral meetings with selected journalists (see Part II, Chapter 3). NPMs have also used other dissemination strategies to reach a wider audience. In order to facilitate a constructive dialogue and good working relationship with the SPT, NPMs will inevitably need to ensure that their annual reports are automatically shared with the SPT. In addition, NPMs could also consider sharing annual reports with other European and international bodies, such as the CPT, the CoE, the EU, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the CAT Committee or the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture. The extent to which these activities relate to follow-up specifically, however, varies, and depends on part on the content of these various reports and how much detail they contain on the recommendations. 4.1.2 Visit reports Visit reports are, in practice, seen as the key means by which NPMs set out their findings on the treatment and conditions of detention observed within an establishment and the basis on which to make, where necessary, any recommendations for improvement. They are therefore the primary tool for establishing a subsequent constructive dialogue with the authorities to address any problems that have been observed. In addition, visit reports also serve to highlight and promote good practice within and among institutions. Content According to the SPT, visit reports should focus ‘on the most important issues, i.e. reporting ill-treatment, gaps in policy, regulations, and practices, as well as the appropriateness of conditions under which inmates are living, reflecting systematic lack of protection of the rights of inmates.’72 In order for visit reports to have an impact and therefore increase the likelihood that the recommendations will be implemented, our research suggests that they need to set out the findings in a clear, consistent and 71 72 APT, Drafting effective annual reports (2012) 1. SPT, UN Doc CAT/OP/1, para 19. - 33 -