CHAPTER 2. ACTIVITY OF THE NPM AND PREVENTIVE VISITS 2.1. Organization of preventive visits As is commonly known, to conduct regular preventive visits to places where people are deprived of their liberty is the key direction of the NPM’s activity. Defining its priorities on performing duties the Azerbaijani NPM also considers the OPCAT objectives.14 Then visits are conducted in the establishments, the list of which is drawn up based on the information submitted by the relevant bodies about the places of detention in their jurisdiction in response to the motions sent to them. For reasons of necessity, these lists are renewed at the end of year verifying their accuracy with the relevant bodies. In 2014 the head of Public Union “Legal World, Legal Promotion”, expert on child rights Nazir Guliyev and the executive director of the “Prison Watch” Public Union Elchin Salmanov were involved in the visits and preparing reports of the NPG as experts in this field. The physician member of the NPG attended all the visits of the NPG. All preventive visits undertaken by the NPG are conducted without making prior notification and such visits can be divided into two groups: scheduled visits and ad-hoc visits. 2.1.1. Scheduled visits Scheduled visits are conducted according to the annual schedule approved by the Commissioner. At the end of each year a draft of the annual schedule for the next year is discussed at the meeting attended by the NPG members and an accepted schedule is submitted to the Commissioner for approval. The nondisclosure of the schedule is vital in terms of the effectiveness of the visits. Thus its confidentiality is ensured by the NPG. The decision upon the sequence of this or another establishment included in the visit, as well as on revisiting is made by taking into account such factors as the specifications of the given establishment, prior cases reported on the detention conditions and treatment in the mentioned establishment in previous years, its location, as well as the information submitted to the NPG as a result of an analysis of the complaints addressed to the Commissioner. The time allocated for a visit varies depending on the establishment’s size and specifications, the number of persons kept there, as well as the number of NPG members involved in that particular visit. The visits mainly last up to three workdays. 14 OPCAT, Article 20 11