Guidebook THE MANDATE AND ROLE OF THE NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTIONS Spain For example, the Spanish NPM has started a new project that encompasses a survey with the lawyers that are registered at police station. Within the framework of this project, the NPM contacts the lawyers via e-mail or in person at police stations. The survey covers questions on procedural rights, and especially the access to a lawyer. 2.7. beneficial if such initiatives adequately address the issue of cooperation between NHRIs and other specialised monitoring bodies, including for example NPMs and Ombudsinstitutions for children or persons with disabilities, and discuss ways in which those institutions can mutually reinforce their efforts. The role of NHRIs vis-à-vis other EU NHRIs There exists several networks of NHRIs in Europe. Despite this, several NHRIs found that there is not sufficient exchange on the topic of criminal procedural safeguards and EU law and expressed interest in receiving information on good practices from other countries. This may be in part explained with the fact that neither EU law nor procedural safeguards in the criminal procedure nor torture prevention are part of ENNHRI strategic priorities.281 The topic of torture prevention was given more attention in the past but activities in that direction were reduced to avoid duplication when the Council of Europe started an initiative to establish a network specifically dedicated to NPMs. Moreover, ENNHRI is a network uniting all NHRIs in the wider Europe, i.e., beyond the EU. As a ‘members driven network’, the network focuses on activities that concern all members. Hence, though it cooperates closely with EU institutions (eg, FRA, EU Commission), it is reluctant to engage in activities specifically concerning EU law, because the topic will not be relevant for its non- EU members.282 Nonetheless, in a few cases the network served as a forum for discussions among EU Member States, for example a sub-group of EU Members was created in the ENNHRI legal working group to discuss about the EU Directive on terrorism (Directive (EU) 2017/541). Hence, EU NHRIs could make use of this opportunity again. The creation of an EU NPM network by the Council of Europe may represent a promising development for NPMs in this regard. However, it would be useful to increase possibilities for exchange on the topic to all NHRIs and not only to those with NPM mandates. It would be particularly 62 63