8. Further activities to prevent ill-treatment ―― gave lectures to students of law and international relations, public guardians, Prison Service officers and workers in geriatrics and social services on the results of systematic visits and the standard of prevention of ill-treatment. We regularly contribute to professional journals Social Services and Czech Prison System, and occasionally also to the journal Social Work Magazine and other scholarly journals. We work to improve the professionality and quality of our visits The topical focus on institutional education and dealing with people with disabilities required the necessary preparation of the programme of visits and training of our team. Our lawyers completed a several multi-day internships in social services and school facilities. We organised a training course for communication with people with mental disabilities, interviewing children, and methods of drafting reports. Our lawyers also completed a basic psychiatric course and “bespoke” training by experts in the area of case law of the European Court of Human Rights. Lively international co-operation We have already worked as a national preventive mechanism for 13 years. We are happy to share our experience, but also need new inspiration. In 2018, we thus continued meeting with our colleagues and deepening our co-operation with the Austrian NPM. This involved excursions into a prison with a treatment/detention institution in Brno and the Korneuburg Prison. In the area of monitoring of forced returns of foreigners to their home countries, we co-operate with the FRONTEX European return agency and the International Centre for Migration Policy Development. Employees of the Office provide training to persons tasked with monitoring expulsions in other countries and they monitor return operations personally as well. In March 2018, we co-operated with several partners to organise a seminar at Václav Havel Airport in Prague for representatives of EU countries active in monitoring of forced returns of foreign nationals. Contact with UN bodies In 2018, the head of the NPM working group met with the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (SPT) to inform it on the activities of the Czech national preventive mechanism. Representatives of the Subcommittee were mainly interested in ensuring NPM’s independence and the current challenges in combatting ill-treatment. They praised the manner of conducting systematic visits as well as the individual and systemic topics we pay attention to during the visits. In 2018, a member of the NPM team also participated in a hearing of the Committee Against Torture (CAT) which dealt with the sixth periodic report of the Czech Republic on measures implemented in order to perform its obligations under the UN Convention against torture. The Committee requested a statement from the Public Defender of Rights and asked additional questions. Statement for the CAT More information and concluding remarks of the CAT In 2018, the Defender again provided auspices over the “Yellow Ribbon Run” – a marathon run dedicated to support for employment of prisoners following their release, which took place within the Prague Marathon. This race has already been instrumental in securing jobs to hundreds of former convicts. 25