Preface Now in its 35th year, the Austrian Ombudsman Board (AOB or in German: Volksanwaltschaft ) is anticipating the greatest expansion of its responsibilities and the most profound reform since its establishment: From 1 July 2012 on, its mandate will also include the protection and promotion of human rights. The new mandate includes all institutions and facilities where people with and without disabilities are in danger of being particularly helpless against abuse, inhumane treatment and measures that deprive them of liberty. In future, a total of about 4,000 public and private organisations and facilities will be monitored and controlled by the AOB. These include, for example, correctional institutions, barracks, police stations, psychiatric facilities, homes for the elderly, long-term care facilities and facilities for persons with disabilities. The AOB is obliged to establish Commissions in order to fulfil these responsibilities. These Commissions will be interdisciplinary and multi-ethnic and, as the AOB’s “eyes and ears”, will carry out unannounced on-site visits. Due to the breadth of the new mandate, the AOB will be advised by a new Human Rights Advisory Council consisting of representatives of the federal government, the Laender and civil society. The mechanism of human rights monitoring will be used to oversee human rights guarantees and international standards, to which the Republic of Austria has committed itself by ratifying two significant UN human rights treaties. This will implement the Optional Protocol of the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) as well as certain provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Human rights monitoring is a process that is employed preventively to ensure compliance and implementation of the UN conventions. The AOB and the expert Commissions doing the actual monitoring will act as a National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) to ensure this process. This human rights monitoring requires that experts from 5