49 11. International activities, international relations Within the frameworks of its international activities, the Department participated in numerous conferences and workshops, and received the representatives of several international organizations and the members of other National Preventive Mechanisms. Between March 1–3, 2015, Strasbourg hosted a conference organized on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the CPT that provided an opportunity to report on the NPM’s activities so far to the head of the Subcommittee, Mr. Malcolm Evans. Cooperation with the Office of the Czech Ombudsman had started back in 2014; in this context, between March 10–12, 2015, two colleagues of the NPM attended the bilateral meeting of the Hungarian and Czech National Preventive Mechanisms in Brno. During the meeting, the members of the delegations exchanged views on technical issues related to the NPMs’ activities. Professional consultations continued in Budapest in October. A conference entitled “Strengthening the follow-up on NPM recommendations in the EU: Strategic development, current practices and the way forward” was held in Vienna on April 28– 29, 2015. The conference concluded that, in addition to conducting dialog between the NPMs and the investigated organs, it is of key importance to maintain regular contact with the media and the parliamentary groups, as well as to hold horizontal and vertical consultations with the Government. My Deputy responsible for the protection of the rights of nationalities living in Hungary visited Warsaw on June 4, 2015, participating in a workshop organized by the Switzerland-based Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) “Implementation of preventive mandate: Ombudsmen designated as National Preventive Mechanisms in OSCE region”. In June 2015, staff members of the Department attended a round-table conference on the alternatives to detention and asylum detention, jointly organized by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Council of Europe. The panel discussion held on June 15 covered the legal regulation and the practice of asylum detention. On June 16, participants focused on European and international norms related to the best interest of the child, and on the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. On June 18, 205, two colleagues of the NPM held talks at the Embassy of Romania on the NPM’s report on the Debrecen Guarded Refugee Reception Center. The workshop “Implementing a preventive mandate”, co-organized by the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI) and the APT was held between June 17–19, 2015, in the Office the Ombudsman of Latvia in Riga. The workshop focused on the basic principles and working methods of preventive monitoring. Based on these criteria, it could be established that the NPM had performed its tasks well even already in the initial stage of its operation. Between June 28–30, 2015, two staff members of the Department participated in a Workshop on “Health Care Access of People Deprived from Freedom in the SEE Region”, organized by the Southeast Europe NPM Network in Tirana.