Visits to places of deprivation of liberty 3. Informing about the rights of detained persons and their realisation Police work is governed by constitutional, legal and executive regulations. Good understanding of police powers or rights and duties, particularly the understanding of permissible threshold of encroaching upon human rights serves as the basis for expert, professional and lawful implementation of tasks. It is equally important that duties of the police are also known to persons involved in official police procedures. Informing and enabling the realisation of individuals’ rights in procedures are of key importance, perhaps even more so when dealing with foreigners. When visiting police stations, the NPM members examined whether premises where procedures with foreigners took place were equipped with suitable information, what was its form (posters, brochures, notifications on walls, etc.), in what languages it was available, how informing about and realising these rights was documented, and the suitability or correctness of translated information (Arabic and Farsi). We again added that information leaflets and posters with the rights of detained persons are installed particularly in rooms where procedures take place and where foreigners are accommodated so that they can actually access them; otherwise their purpose is meaningless. Such information must be translated accordingly and accessible in the languages of foreigners being processed by police officers. When informing about rights, we noticed the lack of information on the right of a foreigner to apply for international protection. We thus suggested to the Ministry of the Interior and the Police to adopt measures to provide systematic informing of foreigners about this right. The NPM determined that insufficient printed information about the rights of detained persons in various languages was available at the premises where procedures with foreigners were implemented, or information on leaflets was unsuitably translated or incomplete (Arabic and Farsi). The notifications on the rights of detained persons must thus be supplemented and translated accordingly. Errors in translated texts may lead to incorrect understanding of the legal notice on the rights of detained persons, which is why individuals do not exercise them at all or with greater difficulty. The translation of all leaflets informing persons in police procedures of their rights must be performed by court certified interpreters. The NPM also noted that the workload of interpreters was unsuitable and steps towards informatisation of the translation system with information communication technology must be made in order to reduce the burden of interpreters and increase the quality of interpreting. Due to the lack of (accessible) information technology, interpreters are exposed to excessive daily workloads and are not suitably protected as per the working conditions due to the form of their cooperation (copyright contract). It must be mentioned that interpreters are not subject to expert supervision with regard to their professionalism and meeting the ethical standards. It is evident from the reports of NGOs that foreigners claimed several times that interpreters gave them different/incorrect information about what would happen to them and they presumably misled them. The foreigners also stated that interpreters were offensive and intolerant. The NPM proposed that suitable conditions for the work of interpreters be established, including supervision if necessary or verification of their professionalism and commitment to ethical standards to which they are bound17 (e.g. by recording interviews). The nature of police procedures and dependency of interpreters’ scope of work on the individual police officer’s decision about which interpreter should partake in individual procedures also point to the urgent consideration about the suitability of appointing/selecting interpreters by the police as an authority on which interpreters fully rely (in terms of the scope of work). Regulating appointment (and activation) as applicable for refugee counsellors as per the International Protection Act would be more suitable and would eliminate any doubt about biased choice and independence of interpreting. The NPM also noted that informing of the next of kin outside the Republic of Slovenia must be conducted according to the law, i.e. through the ministry responsible for foreign affairs. The right to notify the next of kin abroad must be strictly separated from the right of the diplomatic and consular representation of the country the citizen of which is the detained foreigner to be informed about the foreigner’s detention (after all, this is stipulated in the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations). 4. Documenting and recording procedures with foreigners The NPM discovered that official notes include scarce summaries of foreigners’ statements and they mostly refer to their travelling and crossing of the border. The statements on reasons for leaving their 17 http://www.mnz.gov.si/si/mnz_za_vas/tujci_v_sloveniji/mednarodna_zascita_azil/ 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 43