Law accordingly. This is a pressing issue in the context of the Commissioner’s activity as an NPM. For providing legal, organizational, scientific-analytical, informational, logistical, financial and household support to the Commissioner, his/her office is set up. The regional centres of the Commissioner can be established on the ground (Constitutional Law, Article 17.1). The activities of the Commissioner and his/her Office and regional centres are financed from the state budget of the Republic of Azerbaijan (Constitutional Law, Article 19.1) and the amount of the operating expenses included in the annual expenditure allocated for such activities may not be lower than the amount of the financing provided for this purpose in the previous financial year (Constitutional Law, Article 19.2). The Office and regional centres operate in accordance with the regulations approved by the Commissioner (Constitutional Law, Article 17.3) and the rights, duties and responsibilities of the staff are governed by the Labour Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan “On Civil Service” and other legislative acts of the Republic of Azerbaijan (Constitutional Law, Article 18.2). Presently the Detainees Rights Protection Unit, the main duties of which are to investigate applications received from detainees and their relatives, organize the Commissioner’s visits to places of detention, as well as conduct such visits, and carry out legal education work among detainees and persons working with them, operates under the structure of the Office. It should also be mentioned that a specialized torture counsellor, as well as a specialized detainee rights protection counsellor are assisting the Commissioner on an honorary (unpaid) basis. The specialized counsellors regularly make a scientific and analytical analysis of the national legislation and international legal acts related to the relevant fields, the current respective situation in the country, and the complaints and appeals received by the Commissioner, prepare and implement action plans in different directions, and present to the Commissioner drafts of proposals and recommendations to submit to relevant bodies. But the mentioned resources can not be deemed sufficient to ensure the effective functioning of the Commissioner as an NPM. Thus, bearing in mind that the number of the places of detention in the country exceeds 250 and the 18