-12 monitoring of compliance. Rather they should offer recommendations on how to reduce the likelihood or risk of torture or ill-treatment that aim to support the State in the identification of forward-looking solutions and achieving change. As a result, NPMs can be a key player in upholding and harmonising EU standards on detention conditions. Project objectives To facilitate their work, this Project produced a series of Handbooks for NPMs. These Handbooks collect relevant international standards and provide guidance on monitoring detention conditions. They are intended as a practical tool for NPMs to get a better understanding on: • The thematic issues and risks for the prevention of torture and illtreatment connected to them • The existing international standards on selected thematic issues • How to apply these international standards in practice and monitor selected thematic issues Overall, the Project aims to support NPMs in putting forward recommendations on how to reduce the likelihood or risk of torture or illtreatment and, ultimately, contribute to prison conditions in full compliance with fundamental rights in the EU. Project methodology The EU-funded Project began in January 2019 and covered four thematic issues, identified on the basis of results from previous projects and in direct consultations with EU NPMs. Under the overall coordination of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights, each Project Partner was responsible for research on one particular thematic issue, namely: the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights for prison violence; the Hungarian Helsinki Committee for requests and complaints; the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee for persons in a situation of vulnerability; and the Associazione Antigone for solitary confinement. The Project started with a desk research phase on existing international standards related to the four thematic issues, as well as on how EU NPMs monitor and contribute to the development