Report on the Performance of the Activities of the National Preventive Mechanism for 2019 violations of fundamental rights as protected by article 3 of the ECHR. The decision is not final, and the case was referred back to the court of first instance. Stating that the practices of denying entry and expelling without a case-by-case assessment of the need for protection, that is, pushbacks, have been documented across Europe, and that in some countries they are systemic and can be considered to represent national policies, the CoE appealed to its members to immediately stop such practices due to the severity of violations of human rights they incur. The greatest risk such practices involve is that of refoulement, that is, returning persons to areas where they are in risk of persecution, which is contrary to the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the ECHR. The CoE also expressed concern about the degrading treatment of migrants during pushbacks, including intimidation, seizing and destroying personal items, use of violence, even denial of food and basic services. It therefore believes that in denying having carried out such pushbbacks, these types of inhuman and degrading treatment are denied as well, and are therefore not adequately examined or not examined at all. The priority would be to carry out an investigation into actions that might represent a violation of Art. 3 of the ECHR (prohibition of torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment). In order to eliminate, or confirm, suspicions, it is necessary that the investigation is carried out by an authority independent from the officials under suspicion (ECtHR, Bojcenko v Moldova (2010)), as otherwise the representatives of a state would be able to abuse the rights of those under their control with impunity (Labita v Italy (2010) and Muradova v Azerbaidjan (2009)). Therefore, investigating such practice is crucial to maintain the rule of law, where nobody, and especially the police, cannot be above the law. Apart from the information that the SAO carried out investigations in several specific cases, such as Madina, a girl who died during a pushback, or the use of firearms where migrants were wounded, which we have written about in the segment on the police system, we are not aware of the results of any investigations into systemic violations of migrants' rights. NPM visits During 2019, in line with the authorities granted by the ANPM, and in order to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, we made unannounced visits to the Tovarnik Transit Reception Centre, the Ježevo Reception Centre for Foreigners, and the Tovarnik and Korenica border police stations. At the reception centres (Tovarnik and Trilj) we found that it was made difficult for migrants to access legal representation, which is contrary to CPT standards, which guarantee unimpeded access from the very outset of the deprivation of freedom of movement, without limitations or censorship. Migrants are not adequately informed about their rights, including the right to file complaints, while the existing complaint mechanisms are insufficiently effective, as they do not entail investigative procedures and the possibility of issuing sanctions while respecting the principle of independence, impartiality and confidentiality. The process of identifying unaccompanied children, as well as other 29