SECTION 1. 5 SECTION 1. IMPLEMENATION OF THE NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM IN UKRAINE: SPECIFIC FEATURES 1.1. Background information on NPM in Ukraine 1.1.1. UKRAINE’S OBLIGATIONS WITH REGARD TO IMPLEMENTATION OF THE OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO THE CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT On July 21, 2006 the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine ratified OPCAT the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Law of Ukraine # 22-V, of July 21, 2006). According to OPCAT provisions each State Party is to set up, designate or maintain at the domestic level one or several visiting bodies for the prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (national preventive mechanisms, or NPMs). The Optional Protocol contains no provisions regarding the format and organizational structure of NPMs but obligates the State Parties to guarantee the functional independence of national preventive mechanisms as well as the independence of their personnel, to make available the necessary resources for NPM functioning and, when establishing national preventive mechanisms, to give due consideration to the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights. According to part one of Article 4 of OPCAT each State Party shall allow NPMs to visit any place under its jurisdiction and control where persons are or may be deprived of their liberty, either by virtue of an order given by a public authority or at its instigation or with its consent or acquiescence. These visits shall be undertaken with a view to strengthening, if necessary, the protection of these persons against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. As stipulated in part two of OPCAT Article 4, “deprivation of liberty means any form of detention or imprisonment or the placement of a person in a public or private custodial setting which that person is not permitted to leave at will by order of any judicial, administrative or other authority.” For efficient performance of their functions NPMs, under Article 19 of OPCAT, are granted the following powers: (a) To regularly examine the treatment of the persons deprived of their liberty in places of detention as defined in article 4, with a view to strengthening, if necessary, their protection against torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading