Authors This study was written by Moritz Birk and Gerrit Zach of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights (BIM); Debra Long and Rachel Murray of the Human Rights Implementation Centre (HRIC) at the University of Bristol; and Walter Suntinger as independent consultant. The research was moreover supported by Tiphanie Crittin and Giuliana Monina of the BIM. The Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights was established in Vienna, Austria, in 1992 as an independent research centre with the aim of contributing to the scientific discourse of human rights at the national, European and global level. The team Human Dignity and Public Security at the BIM is composed of experts on the prohibition and prevention of torture and other forms of ill-treatment and has supported the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak, from 2004 to 2010. The team has conducted extensive research on the phenomenon of torture and ill-treatment, inter alia by the publication of a comprehensive commentary on the UN Convention against Torture and implemented numerous projects dealing inter alia with fighting impunity, strengthening of safeguards and the establishment and development of capacities of NPMs in different countries across the globe, e.g. in Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Paraguay, Romania, Uruguay, Togo, etc. Furthermore, two of the visiting commissions of the Austrian NPM are coordinated at the team. The Human Rights Implementation Centre is based in the University of Bristol Law School in the UK. It was established in June 2009 in order to provide an international focus for developing expertise, advice and scholarship on the role of institutions in the implementation of human rights. The objective of the HRIC is to work with a range of institutions and organisations at the international, regional and national levels to create a better understanding of how the implementation of human rights can be strengthened globally. Among its thematic areas are OPCAT and torture prevention and human rights implementation. Within the context of these themes the HRIC conducts major pieces of research and provides advice to institutions and organisations at all levels aimed at strengthening efforts to improve implementation of human rights around the world. The HRIC has worked closely with the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) since its inception. The current Chair of the SPT, Professor Malcolm Evans, is Deputy Director of the HRIC. Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank all NPMs that participated in this project for their valuable contributions, in writing, in bilateral phone consultations as well as during the workshops and conference. We greatly appreciate their endless efforts and engagement. Many thanks also to all the other stakeholder representatives that have contributed to the research with their expert input and comments, namely of the UN Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, the EU Fundamental Rights Agency, the European External Action Service, the European Commission – DG Justice, the European Parliament, Amnesty International, the Association for the Prevention of Torture, the Open Society Justice Initiative and the World Organisation against Torture. A very special thanks go to the peer reviewers of the present study: Richard Carver, Francesca Gordon and Silvia Casale. Their feedback and comments to this publication and input at the final conference have greatly improved this publication. Vienna, May 2015 -5-