implementation of international standards and application of the recommendations of preventive mechanisms, and held broad and productive discussions. When member of the NPM Group A.Hajiyev was in Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk, Russia on 17-20 December 2009 for an exchange of experiences, he gave information about the Commissioner’s NPM activities and productively exchanged views in the Office of the Ombudsman of the Oblast and at the meetings held with the teaching staff and students of the Law Faculty of the Yekaterinburg Humanitarian University. When member of the NPM Group R.T.Samadov was in the cities of Tashkent, Bukhara, and Samarkand of the Republic of Uzbekistan on 17-21 December 2009 for an exchange of experiences, he discussed issues relating to combating torture and gave information about the Commissioner���s NPM activities at the meetings held with the participation of the employees of the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan and regional centres, as well as the teaching staff and students of the Tashkent State Law Institute. Member of the NPM Group V.Maharramov’s participation in the meeting of the Committee held in Kiev, Ukraine on 06 October 2010 in connection with the realization of the Council of Europe and EU joint program on the “Combating Ill-Treatment and Impunity in South Caucasus, Moldova and Ukraine”, as well as in the 3rd conference of the Eastern European countries on “NPMs, Investigating Ill-Treatment and Similar Cases” held in Odessa, Ukraine on 02-03 November 2010 within the same program has also been useful for the institution. The participation of member of the NPM Group A.Aliyev in the workshop on “The Role of National Human Rights Structures in Protecting and Promoting the Rights of Persons with Mental Health Problems” held in Bilbao, Spain on 17-18 November 2010 by the Council of Europe Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs has also had a significant impact. At the event reports were delivered and discussions were held on the protection of the rights of persons with mental health problems in Europe: norms and facts; main difficulties in relation to the protection of the rights of persons with mental health problems, ways to protect the rights of persons 105