9
The Parliamentary Ombudsman's
Prevention Mandate
On 14 May 2013, the Storting voted in favour
of Norway ratifying the Optional Protocol to the
Convention against Torture (OPCAT). The Storting
awarded the task of exercising the mandate set
out in OPCAT to the Parliamentary Ombudsman.
In 2014, the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM)
was established as a department under
the Parliamentary Ombudsman to address
this area of the Ombudsman’s work.
The Parliamentary Ombudsman, represented by the
NPM, conducts regular visits to places where people
are deprived of their liberty, such as prisons, police
custody facilities, mental healthcare institutions
and child welfare institutions. The visits can be both
announced and unannounced.
The NPM has the right of access to all places
of detention and the right to speak in private with
people who have been deprived of their liberty.
The NPM also has the right to access all necessary
information that is relevant to the conditions
of people deprived of their liberty.
During its visits, the NPM will endeavour to
identify risk factors for violation by making its own
observations and through interviews with the people
involved. Interviews with people deprived of their
liberty are given special priority.
As part of its prevention efforts, the NPM engages
in extensive dialogue with national authorities,
control and supervisory bodies in the public administration, other ombudsmen, civil society, NPMs
in other countries and international organisations
in the human rights field.
An advisory committee has been established that
contributes expertise, information, advice and input
to the prevention work.
1
The UN Convention against Torture Article 12.
The UN Convention against Torture
The UN Convention against Torture states
that torture and inhuman treatment are strictly
prohibited, and that no exceptions can be made
from this prohibition under any circumstances.
States that endorse the convention are obliged
to prohibit, prevent and punish all use of torture
and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
or punishment. According to the Convention,
each State party shall ‘ensure that its competent
authorities proceed to a prompt and impartial
investigation, wherever there is reasonable ground
to believe that an act of torture [or other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment]
has been committed in any territory under its
jurisdiction’.1
Norway ratified the Convention against Torture
in 1986. The prohibition against torture is set out
in various parts of Norwegian legislation, including
Article 93 of the Norwegian Constitution.
—
The UN Convention against
Torture states that torture and
inhuman treatment are strictly
prohibited, and that no exceptions
can be made from this prohibition
under any circumstances.
—