Report of the Commissioner for Human Rights on the activities of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture in Poland in 2017 The organization of the regional debates is a form of fulfilment of the NMPT’s educational role in preventing torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Local media representatives were also invited to take part in the debates. Special information was prepared for them on the results of the NMPT’s visits conducted in the 2 years preceding the meeting, in places of detention located in a given voivodeship. Statements of the NMPT as a form of building the attitude of non-tolerance towards torture and other cruel and degrading treatment In 2017 the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture started using a new educational tool in the form of NMPT statements. The statements present the NMPT’s positions on events significant from the point of view of torture prevention. Such events may include the passing of a ruling by a national court or the ECHR, media announcements or adoption of a legislative act. In 2017 the NMPT issued two statements: concerning the death of Igor Stachowiak and the unjustified detention and placement in an RDP of a Ukrainian citizen. Regretfully, due to significant personnel shortages, the NMPT conducted only one training that was held in the Police Training Centre in Sieradz. Financing Expenditures on the activities of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture are covered from the state budget allocation received by the CHR. According to the Annual Report on the Implementation of Activity-Based Expenditures of the State Budget and of the European Funds Budget, in 2017 the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights disbursed 2 340 015,73 PLN. 83