16 1. The legal background of the National Preventive Mechanism’s operation ing its 1999 periodical visit25 and would visit the institution on each following occasion. I had consultations in my Office with the representatives of the CPT during their ad hoc visit to Hungary on October 21, 2015.26 Since the “provisions of the present Protocol shall not affect the obligations of States Parties under any regional convention instituting a system of visits to places of detention,”27 the reports of the CPT’s visits to Hungary are of major importance for me. The conclusions of the CPT’s latest country report, its recommendations for the Government and the responses given thereto were taken into consideration during the preparation of the National Preventive Mechanism’s first annual schedule of visits.28 The comprehensive standards29 worked out by the CPT relative to the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty interpret the prohibition of torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment as stipulated in Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights from the aspects of the practical operation of various types of places of detention (prisons, police lock-ups, psychiatric institutions, detention centers for refugees), and such vulnerable groups as women or minors. 1.3. Preventive activities of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights According to the Fundamental Law, “the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights shall perform fundamental rights protection activities,”30 which also covers the prohibition of torture, inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment. According to the consistent judicial practice of the Constitutional Court, the obligation of the State to respect and protect fundamental rights is not limited to refraining from infringing them, but also includes its obligation to guarantee all conditions required for the enforcement of such rights.31 Decisions of the Constitutional Court are binding for everyone, the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights included.32 For the aforementioned reason, even in my general activities aimed at protecting 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 The first ombudsperson, then called the Parliamentary Commissioner for Civil Rights, started her work on July 01, 1995. The Hungarian translation of report CPT/Inf (2016) 27 on the CPT’s ad hoc visit to Hungary between October 21 and 27, 2015, may be reached at: https://rm.coe.int/16806b5d23 See Article 31 of the OPCAT. See CPT/Inf (2014) 13 and CPT/Inf (2014) 14. See: CPT standards CPT/Inf/E (2002) 1 - Rev. 2015. See Article 30, Paragraph (1) of the Fundamental Law. See Constitutional Court decision 64/1991 (XII. 10.) AB. See Section 39, Subsection (1) of Act CLI of 2011 on the Constitutional Court.