Section four Appendices Appendix Nine NPM fact sheets Fact sheet 1: Introducing the UK’s National Preventive Mechanism What is a National Preventive Mechanism (NPM)? An NPM is one or more designated bodies that visit places of detention to monitor the treatment and conditions of detainees. The aim of an NPM is to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment from taking place. The mandate for an NPM comes from the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture (OPCAT), a human rights treaty drafted and agreed by States who wanted to ensure stronger protections for detainees. The fundamental idea behind OPCAT is that a system of regular, independent visits to places of detention can serve as an important safeguard abuses, preventing torture and ill-treatment in places that by their very nature fall outside the public gaze. States that ratify OPCAT must establish an NPM. There are now 55 NPMs formally in existence around the world. Specific requirements of an NPM To comply with OPCAT, NPMs must have certain powers. These include the power to: - inspect all places of detention - access all information relating to detainees - interview detainees in private - choose where to visit and who to speak to - make recommendations based on human rights norms to relevant authorities - make proposals and observations on existing or draft legislation. What does the UK’s NPM look like and what does it do? The UK signed up to OPCAT in 2003, expressing its commitment to prevent torture and illtreatment in detention across the country. The UK’s National Preventive Mechanism was formally designated in 2009 and is now made up of 20 organisations whose official functions include monitoring and inspecting places of detention. Across the UK, different detention settings are visited or inspected by different NPM members as follows: 69