SECTION 1. Implemenation of the NMP in ukraine “No authority or official shall order, apply, permit or tolerate any sanction against any person or organization for having communicated to the national preventive mechanism any information, whether true or false, and no such person or organization shall be other- 9 wise prejudiced in any way” (part one of Article 21). “Confidential information collected by the national preventive mechanism shall be privileged. No personal data shall be published without the express consent of the person concerned” (part two of Article 21). 1.2. THE BACKGROUND OF ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM IN UKRAINE Ukraine’s Parliament made its first attempt to establish the national preventive mechanism back in 2006, simultaneously with adoption of the Law of Ukraine “On Ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment). However, the then Ombudsman Nina Karpachyova, who had put considerable personal effort into prompt ratification of OPCAT, refused to form the NPM on the basis of her Secretariat1. After that for nearly three years the NPM topic was discussed only in the narrow circle of human rights NGOs that were on their own initiative carrying out different projects in this area. This context requires a special mention of the substantial contribution made into NPM enhancement by the experts of Kharkiv Institute of Social Researches (KhISR). They embarked on regular visits 1 One Hundred Days of the New Ukrainian Ombudsman. – Kharkiv, “Prava Lyudyny”, 2012. — С. 24. (in Ukr.) to custodial settings as far back as 2004, in the course of a pilot project launched jointly with the Council of Europe’s experts, when the specially created mobile groups began monitoring the respect of human rights and freedoms in the operation of police agencies. It was the Kharkiv Institute of Social Researches that de facto initiated a system of regular visits of custodial settings in Ukraine. As of 2006 the Institute’s experts, with the administrative and financial support of the OSCE Project Coordinator in Ukraine, started to establish the national system of civic monitors of custodial settings. They have also been developing the methodology of monitoring visits2, make relevant reports and consolidate the resulting data. KhISR experts actively participated in the drafting of Ministry of Inter2 “Mobile Groups for Monitoring of the Respect of Human and Civic Rights and Freedoms in the Operation of Police Authorities: A Manual for Research and Practice”. – Kharkiv, “Studiya Kolazh”, 2009 – 546 с. (In Ukr.)