5 PREAMBLE In the present-day world torture and ill-treatment are shameful and appalling. For many decades the international community has tried to resolve this problem by adopting various legal instruments to counter torture and by way of establishing institutional mechanisms for compliance with such instruments. A relatively new instrument that, however, has already proved its efficiency is the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT), adopted on December 18, 2002. The principal idea of OPCAT is to set up in every state a system of regular independent visits to 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. These visits are undertaken with a view to strengthening, if necessary, the protection of these persons against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Monitoring visits of custodial settings by independent experts exercise a deterring effect on public authorities and, accordingly, minimize the risk of becoming a victim of torture. Ukraine ratified the Optional Protocol on July 21, 2006. On August 9, 2012 the President of Ukraine submitted to the Verkhovna Rada the draft Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine on the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights with Regard to the National Preventive Mechanism” that vested NPM functions with the Ombudsman. The Parliament approved this Law on November 4, 2012. After a public debate with participation of well-known domestic and international experts it was decided to implement the “Ombudsman +” NPM model, which implies joint monitoring visits of custodial settings by the staff of the Office of the Ombudsman of Ukraine and by civil society activists. On May 25, 2012 the Secretariat of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights got a new subdivision in its structure – the Department for implementation of the national preventive mechanism. The process of selection of the personnel for this Department lasted throughout the year, in order to staff the new unit, on competitive basis, with professionals of considerable practical experience in the sphere of monitoring of the respect of human rights and freedoms in the performance of closed institutions.