A/73/207 Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, States are obliged to criminalize torture, investigate alleged violations and prosecute perpetrators, provide redress and rehabilitation to victims, and adopt a wide range of preventive measures. The Optional Protocol to the Convention, which entered into force in 2006, provides for monitoring, at the national and international levels, of the implementation of the Convention wherever persons may be deprived of their liberty. 9. In many regions of the world, a decisive contribution has been made by the constant and increasingly progressive jurisprudence of international human rights mechanisms and criminal tribunals, but also by regional treaties focused on giving effect to the prohibition, such as the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture of 1987 and the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment of 1987, and by a wide range of soft law instruments, such as: the revised Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules); the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials; the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials; the Principles of Medical Ethics Relevant to the role of health personnel, particularly physicians, in the protection of prisoners and detainees against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; the Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Istanbul Protocol); the Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death; the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (Beijing Rules); the United Nations Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency (Riyadh Guidelines); the United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Depriv ed of their Liberty (Havana Rules); the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (Bangkok Rules); the Guidelines and Measures for the Prohibition and Prevention of Torture, Cruel, Inhuman or D egrading Treatment or Punishment in Africa (Robben Island Guidelines) and the European Prison Rules. B. International institutional framework 10. Since 1948, an impressive institutional framework has been established specifically to prevent torture and ill-treatment. In addition to the judicial and quasijudicial treaty bodies that oversee the implementation of the general human rights instruments and the international criminal courts and tribunals that adjudicate a broad range of crimes, some international mechanisms focus on the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment. 11. The Committee against Torture, which is made up of independent experts, monitors the implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment by reviewing the reports of States parties, hearing individual complaints and carrying out inquiries. The Committee also publishes its interpretation of specific treaty provisions in the form of general comments. 12. Under the Optional Protocol to the Convention, the Committee is complemented by the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture). Each State party to the Optional Protocol is required to set up a national preventive mechanism (NPM). During official visits to States, the Subcommittee can access any place where persons may be deprived of their liberty. It also advises Governments on how to establish NPMs and ensure that they function effectively. According to the Optional Protocol, the mandate of NPMs includes regularly examining the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty, making recommendations with a view to strengthening their 18-12051 5/23