• On June 26, 2016, the NPM presented its annual report. • During 2016, the NPM released three special (thematic) reports related to the (1) situation in organs subordinated to the Ministry of Interior; (2) situation in mental health institutions; (3) the state of rights of persons with disabilities in social care homes. • In 2016, the NPM prepared, published and submitted two after-visit reports describing situation in the penitentiary establishments. These reports are accessible via official web-site of the Public Defender. • During the reporting period, in order to better inform society, the NPM maintained practice of releasing quarterly bulletins, which briefly describe activities carried out by the NPM, information on the penitentiary establishments, dynamics of implementation of NPM recommendations, legislative review, information on international events, experts’ opinion, agenda of the upcoming events and etc. In 2016, totally three such bulletins had been published. Currently, 5 after-visit reports as well as one thematic report on penitentiary health care are being drafted by the NPM. The NPM regularly disseminated public statements concerning outcomes of the visits to the places of deprivation of liberty. In addition, members of the NPM participated in different TV and radio programs and gave interviews to the printed and internet media outlets. 2.2.4. PARTICIPATION IN INTERNATIONAL EVENTS Representatives of the NPM participated in several international events, among them: • From February 7 to 11, 2016, the head of the Department of Prevention and Monitoring took part in a study visit held in Strasburg and organized by the joint project of the European Union and the Council of Europe “Human Rights in prisons and other types of Closed Establishments”. • The International Ombudsman Institute has organized a working meeting in cooperation with the Association for the Prevention of Torture in Vilnius, Lithuania, on June 21-23, 2016. The topic of the meeting was: “Monitoring of psychiatric institutions”. The meeting was attended by representatives of national preventive mechanisms from 17 countries. The Public Defender’s Office was represented at the meeting by Nika Kvaratskhelia, Head of the Department of Prevention and Monitoring, and the Department’s research analyst, Akaki Kukhaleishvili. • On June 28-29, employees of the Department of Prevention and Monitoring, Akaki Kukhaleishvili and Levan Begiashvili, participated in a working meeting on “Strengthening capabilities of joint return operation monitors” in Warsaw, Poland. The aim of the meeting was to improve monitoring mechanisms to ensure effective protection of migrants’ rights during joint return operations. NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM (NPM), 2016 9