Report of the Commissioner for Human Rights on the activities of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture in Poland in 2017 Those establishments (there more than 3000 of them in Poland) need to be inspected on a regular basis. It is not only experience and common sense that justify this need but also obligations imposed on our country by international community. The inspections in question are conducted under the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture (NMPT) – by experts (lawyers, pedagogues, sociologists, doctors, criminologists and psychologists) who investigate the conditions in places of detention where individuals are placed against their will1. The NMPT operates pursuant to the provisions of the Optional Protocol of the UN to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT)2. Each State-Party to the Convention is obliged to create a National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture3. 1 2 3 1. 2. Regulation no. 52/2016 of the Commissioner for Human Rights of 22 December 2016 on the names used by the team of the “National Preventive Mechanism” Until 2016 the team used the name “National Preventive Mechanism”, which, however, did not fully identify its role. The Commissioner for Human Rights changed it to the “National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture” or “the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment In relation to the Republic of Poland the protocol entered into force on 22 June 2006 Two significant international agreements are binding for Poland: Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 18 December 2002. (Dz. U. No. 150, item 1253) The Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms drawn up in Rome on 4 November 1950. (Dz. U. of 2010, No. 90, item 587) 4