Report of the Commissioner for Human Rights on the activities of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture in Poland in 2017 Jerzy Foerster, an MD, a geriatrician, who is an expert of the Mechanism, participated in the debate held in Zielona Góra. In his speech he brought up the problem of the lack of a uniform model for medical care in social care homes, which is particularly striking in smaller towns with a shortage of nurses. When faced with the choice whether to apply for a job in a social care home or to go abroad, nursing students usually opt for the latter. They find employment abroad without problems. Foreign authorities may even offer incentives for such jobs. The speaker also observed that one of the problems facing social care homes is the issue of medication dosing. It sometimes happens that patients take several medicinal products (multi-medication). Some of them, such as antibiotics, are often taken for too long, e.g. for 30 days. Yet, it is possible to replace some drugs and thus reduce the number of taken doses. Therefore, it is important that someone pays attention to how doctor’s recommendations are fulfilled. The Cracow debate was dominated by the contributions of social care home representatives who voiced their doubts as to whether the NMPT should consider those establishments as places of detention at all. On the other hand, there were also voices emphasizing the legitimacy of monitoring activities conducted by the Mechanism’s employees. The expert of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture Marzena Ksel, Ph.D., Vice-President of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) spoke about the objective and consequences of applying the Istanbul Protocol as the tool dedicated to medical staff and intended for the identification of torture and ill-treatment victims. The last debate held in 2017 took place in Bydgoszcz. On behalf of the NMPT Expert Committee it was attended by prof. Zbigniew Lasocik (D.Sc.) who, in the period 2007-2012, was a member of the UN Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture (SPT) in Geneva. Prof. Lasocik is an expert in the field of penitentiary sciences, specializing in human rights and torture prevention. He is also a pioneer in the research on human trafficking. In his lecture he spoke about torture prevention. He indicated that Poland is facing challenges in connection with OPCAT. They include, among others, the necessity for dialogue and effective exchange of information between individual institutions. Prof. Lasocik also mentioned a profound role to be played by the media which should develop a culture of non-tolerance for any form of torture. 82