CHANCELLOR OF JUSTICE AS NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM During the reporting year, the Chancellor developed cooperation with the Social Insurance Board which carries out supervision over compliance by providers of 24-hour special care services with the requirements laid down by the administrative agreement and the legislation. In particular, the Chancellor and the Social Insurance Board studied each other’s working methods and exchanged the experience gained in inspecting the providers of 24-hour special care services. In addition, advisers to the Chancellor delivered a presentation at the information day organised by the Social Insurance Board on 24 May 2013. Officials from the Chancellor’s Office also delivered presentations on issues of prevention at the information days organised by Tartu and Viljandi county governments. PART II PART III To raise awareness among staff working at and individuals held in the places of detention, the Office of the Chancellor of Justice has also organised training events and information days as well as distributed information materials during the inspection visits, in order to help persons whose liberty is restricted to better understand their fundamental rights and freedoms and to effectively implement the complaint mechanisms. Similarly, in order to raise awareness, the Chancellor’s homepage contains a special section on the prevention of ill-treatment.12 The homepage provides explanations on the definition of ill-treatment, the kinds of establishments treated as places of detention, the rights of persons staying in places of detention, and the role of the Chancellor as the mechanism for the prevention of ill-treatment. The relevant section of the homepage is available in Estonian, Russian and English. PART IV For example, the Chancellor in his circular drew the attention of all the providers of 24-hour special care services to the main shortcomings identified by him in the inspected establishments. The aim of the circular was to make the service providers revise the practice in their respective establishments and, whenever necessary, change it so as to ensure sufficient protection of the fundamental rights and freedoms of recipients of 24-hour care services. The Chancellor in his circular explained that it is prohibited to seclude clients in the rooms not adjusted for the purpose, including in their bedrooms, and asked the service providers to examine all the doors of the rooms of clients of 24-hour special care services and to remove any locking devices from them which enable locking the door only from the outside (Circular to the providers of 24-hour special care services, case No 7-9/130704). PART I of detention, as well as among the wider public, of the essence of ill-treatment and the need to fight it. The training project in the course of which R. Sults explained fundamental rights to the conscripts of the Defence Forces also continued in 2013. In order to raise the overall awareness of society about the prevention of ill-treatment, the Chancellor and his advisers have published both paper and internet articles on issues of illtreatment. In 2013, in the EUROCHIPS newsletter Justice for Children of Prisoners the Chancellor’s adviser Ksenia Žurakovskaja-Aru published an article „Children’s connections with imprisoned parents in Estonia“.13 The article provides an overview of the possibilities of communication between imprisoned parents and their children in Estonia. During the reporting year, several inspection visits and proceedings carried out by the Chancellor were covered by the media: Randla, S. Õiguskantsler Indrek Teder nõuab hooldatavate lukustamise lõpetamist. [Chancellor of Justice Indrek Teder demands an end to locking up of care service recipients]  – Õhtuleht, 7 March 2013.14 12 13 14 See the Chancellor of Justice homepage http://oiguskantsler.ee/en/prevention-of-ill-treatment-1. Special edition of the newsletter, No 1/ 4-2013, pp 18–19. The article in English is available online: http://lasteombudsman.ee/sites/default/files/IMCE/2013_justice_for_children_of_prisoners_ksenija_0.pdf. Available online in Estonian: http://www.ohtuleht.ee/512685/oiguskantsler-nouab-hooldatavate-lukustamise-lopetamist. 9