INTRODUCTION or Degrading Treatment or Punishment6. We are certain that one of the reasons the Ombudsman has been entrusted with the additional duties and powers of the NPM was the care the Ombudsman has constantly dedicated to discussing complaints received from imprisoned persons and also its preventive role in this area, i.e. by the formed and established manner of operating when visiting facilities where persons deprived of their liberty are accommodated. Its independence (functional, personal and financial) is also important in this regard, which is ensured with the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia and the Human Rights Ombudsman Act. By being entrusted with the tasks and powers of the NPM, the Ombudsman became an integral part of a generally applicable system under the auspices of the United Nations (UN), which enforces (additional) mechanisms for the prevention of torture and other forms of ill-treatment of people deprived of liberty at the international and national levels. This system is particularly based on regular visits to places of deprivation of liberty. The purpose of these preventive visits is to prevent torture or other ill-treatment before it occurs. A special NPM unit has been operating under the auspices of the Ombudsman since 2015, which does not examine individual complaints, but visits institutions and conducts other tasks. We have thus divided both activities of the Ombudsman, i.e. the preventive activity composed of the NPM’s tasks, and the reactive one, which includes the examination of complaints received. The need for this separation is explicitly stipulated in Item 32 of the Guidelines on National Preventive Mechanisms (SPT)7 adopted at the 12th session in Geneva on 15–19 November 2010, which stipulates that “where the body designated as the NPM performs other functions in addition to those under the Optional Protocol, its NPM functions should be located within a separate unit or department, with its own staff and budget”. The implementation of tasks and powers of the NPM is thus much more organised and effective, The improved organisation of work contributes to better preparation for individual visits, their execution and drafting of reports on visits. The operations of the Ombudsman’s special internal organisational unit, which implements only the tasks and powers of the NPM, were also determined in 2017 by the Act Amending the Human Rights Ombudsman Act (ZVarCP-B; Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia [Uradni list RS], No. 54/17) in Article 50c, stipulating that the work of the National Preventive Mechanism is managed by a Deputy Ombudsman authorised by the Ombudsman for a certain period. In addition to the Deputy Ombudsman, Ivan Šelih, who is the head of the NPM, in 2018 the unit also included Robert Gačnik, BA in Criminal Justice and Security, specialist in criminal investigation, the Ombudsman’s adviser and councillor (responsible particularly for visiting prisons, police stations, aliens and asylum centres), mag. Jure Markič, the Ombudsman’s adviser and senior councillor, BA in Law (responsible for visiting social care institutions and psychiatric hospitals) and Lili Jazbec, the Ombudsman’s adviser and councillor, professor of defectology for behavioural and personality disorders and institutional education science (responsible for visiting residential treatment institutions). In 2017, Ana Polutnik, BA in Law, joined the unit, who is responsible for visiting social care institutions (within the framework of her work obligations). 1.1.2 Cooperation with non-governmental organisations The Act ratifying the Optional Protocol (Article 5) determines that the duties and powers of the NPM are to be implemented by the Ombudsman. It also stipulates that non-governmental organisations (NGOs) registered in the Republic of Slovenia and organisations which hold the status of humanitarian organisations in the Republic of Slovenia and which deal with the protection of human rights or fundamental freedoms, particularly in the field of preventing torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, may participate with the Ombudsman in the supervision of places of detention and in the examination of the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty. The organisations implementing supervision together with the Ombudsman’s office are selected by the Ombudsman on the basis of a public call. Mutual cooperation with the selected NGOs is laid down in more detail in agreements. 6 Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia [Uradni list RS], No. 114/06 – International Treaties, No. 20/06. 7 Available at: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/OPCAT/Pages/NationalPreventiveMechanisms.aspx. 6 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DUTIES AND POWERS OF THE NPM IN 2018 NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM UNDER THE OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO THE UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT