Report of the Commissioner for Human Rights on the activities of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture in Poland in 2017 2017 was the tenth year of the Commissioner for Human Rights’ work as the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture. Representatives of the Commissioner’s Office carried out 76 unannounced visits to various places of detention across the country. Just like in the previous years, the Commissioner for Human Rights did not receive sufficient funds to implement the tasks of the National Preventive Mechanism, which was strongly against the provisions of the OPCAT and the Paris Principles6. Our report describes main findings of the preventive visits and diagnoses the existing systemic problems. Regretfully, numerous systemic problems identified in the last years still remain unsolved. Such problems include the failure to amend the Act on juvenile delinquency proceedings, as had been postulated; the failure to solve the problem of placing persons, for the purpose of sobering up, in police rooms for detained persons; the lack of systemic solutions for pregnant juveniles (residents of juvenile establishments) as well as juvenile mothers and their children. The layout of the report on the Mechanism’s activities in 2017 differs from the previous ones. In order to make the recommendations of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture more visible, a multi-colour print was introduced alongside a uniform method for highlighting the national and international standards and recommendations. As in the previous years, in places of detention in Poland there occur situations which, regrettably, can be classified as degrading or inhuman treatment or punishment. Experience shows that NMPT visits play an important role in preventing torture. Given the fact that the country has over 3000 places of detention within the meaning of Article 4 of the OPCAT7, and that the NMPT visiting team is currently composed of 10 persons, despite their high commitment the Commissioner for Human Rights is, unfortunately, unable to guarantee compliance with the minimum international standards of frequency of preventive visits8. Apart from the monitoring of places of detention, the year 2017 was also devoted to the continuation of the NMPT’s regional debates held in voivodeship (region) capitals, during which the representatives of the NMPT discussed the key issues relating to the operation of places of detention in Poland. The meetings were addressed to representatives of all types of such places, as well as to representatives of public prosecutor’s offices, judicial authorities, voivodeship self-governments and universities. 6 7 8 The Paris Principles are requirements to be met by human rights institutions. They were adopted by the UN in 1993. The main requirements to be met are independence and pluralism. According to Article 4(1) of the OPCAT, a place of detention is 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. According to the UN Special Rapporteur on torture, ad hoc preventive visits under the NPM should be carried out once per several months, and comprehensive visits once per five years. According to minimum standards defined by the APT, comprehensive visits to organizational units of the police, pre-trial detention centres and to places of detention of people particularly vulnerable to threats or aggression, such as women and foreigners, should be carried out at least once a year. 7