CAT/OP/POL/RONPM/1 II. National preventive mechanism 12. Poland ratified the Optional Protocol on 14 September 2005, and it designated its national preventive mechanism three years later. On 14 January 2009, the Subcommittee was notified that as at 18 January 2008, the Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection (the ombudsperson) was designated as the national preventive mechanism of Poland. 1 13. During the first year of its operation the representatives of the newly designated mechanism carried out preventive visits in 76 various types of detention facilities. They included penal institutions, remand centres, police detention centres, police emergency centres for children, emergency detoxification centres, places for the care or social rehabilitation of young people, juvenile detention centres, juvenile reform schools, military disciplinary detention centres, psychiatric hospitals, guarded centres for foreigners and deportation centres.2 14. According to the information provided to the Subcommittee in 2009, some 30 staff members of the office of the ombudsperson were involved in discharging the mandate of the national preventive mechanism, including visits to the places of detention. 3 However, according to the annual report of the mechanism for 2009, the tasks of the mechanism were performed mainly by six employees of the office of the ombudsperson, delegated to carry out the tasks of the mechanism. Other members of the office (eight persons, including the director) participate in the preventive visits of the mechanism where necessary. 4 Since 2011, the mechanism’s activities have been carried out by a visiting team comprised of eight persons, including the director and a secretary. According to the annual report of the mechanism, in 2016, the composition of the mechanism team decreased by 2.5 full-time positions, and the actual number of employees of the mechanism visiting team was reduced to seven. The ombudsperson has repeatedly emphasized that the small size of the team has made it impossible to perform the tasks arising from the Optional Protocol to the full extent.5 15. Since 2016, the advisory council, which is composed of 25 experts of various backgrounds, also supports the national preventive mechanism in carrying out its mandate, mainly by proposing and disseminating ideas about torture prevention and facilitating communication with the authorities. 16. The Subcommittee notes that the designation of the office of the ombudsperson as the national preventive mechanism of Poland has not been followed by the allocation of the appropriate additional resources necessary for undertaking this additional mandate. The expenses related to the activities of the mechanism are covered by the State budget allocations given to the office of the ombudsperson. Since its first year of operation in Poland, the mechanism has experienced financial problems, which have prevented it from properly implementing the assigned tasks. Despite entrusting the ombudsperson of Poland with the tasks of the mechanism, the Government did not allocate the resources necessary for the execution of tasks related to the proper implementation of the Optional Protocol. 6 17. The Subcommittee further notes that the mandate of the mechanism is not clearly separated from the rest of the mandate in the office of the ombudsperson. The mechanism is 1 2 3 4 5 6 4 Notification letter available at www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/OPCAT/NPM/Poland.pdf. Commissioner For Civil Rights Protection, “Report of the Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection on the activities of the national preventive mechanism in Poland in 2008”, Bulletin of the Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection 2009, No. 5 (Warsaw, 2009), pp. 18–19. Available at www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/OPCAT/NPM/Poland_2008FirstAnnualReport.pdf. Notification letter available at www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/OPCAT/NPM/Poland.pdf. Human Rights Defender, “Report of the human rights defender on the activities of the national preventive mechanism in Poland in 2009”, Bulletin of the Human Rights Defender 2010, No. 4 (Warsaw, 2010), p. 18. Available at www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/OPCAT/NPM/ NPM_Poland_AnnualReport2009.pdf. Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights, “Report of the Polish Commissioner for Human Rights on the activities of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture in 2016”, Bulletin of the Commissioner for Human Rights 2017, No. 4 (Warsaw, 2017), p. 12. Available at www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/OPCAT/NPM/Poland2016.pdf. Commissioner For Civil Rights Protection, “Report of the Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection on the activities of the national preventive mechanism in Poland in 2008”, p. 16.