3.The development of national preventive mechanisms should be considered an ongoing obligation, with reinforcement of formal
aspects and working methods refined and improved incrementally. Once the NPM is established, the Subcommittee on Prevention of
Torture (SPT) shall maintain direct, and if necessary confidential, contact with the NPM and offer it training and technical assistance
with a view to strengthening its capacities. The SPT will further advise and assist the NPM in the evaluation of its needs and means
necessary to strengthen the protection of persons deprived of their liberty against torture and ill-treatment. Hence, the SPT should
have a view on the manner in which the NPM addresses core areas of its mandate in order to advise it in its work for the protection
of persons deprived of their liberty.
II.Development strategy of the NPM
4.Given the nature of its work, it is almost inevitable that an NPM will face challenges such as a reluctance within bureaucracies to
change structures and practices, a lack of resources to implement recommendations etc., and sometimes negative public opinion.
Some of these challenges will be outside the control of the NPM and to some extent of the relevant authorities with whom the NPM
engages. Hence, there is a need for realism regarding what a national preventive mechanism might be able achieve in practice in a
given set of circumstances. . In such a situation the NPM should nevertheless try to find and indicate creative solutions that might
address an issue over time in an incremental fashion. The NPM should consider forming partnerships with national and international
actors in order to raise awareness of the obligations of the State Parties among decision makers and within the general public in order
to encourage and facilitate change in legislation, policies of authorities, general attitudes, and conditions and practices in places of
detention. The NPM should also organise its use of human and financial resources so as to ensure that it addresses all aspects of its
mandate and include all types of institutions in its visiting programme.
5.The NPM should develop a strategy for its work in order to achieve the maximum impact on problems and challenges relevant to
its mandate in the local context. Activities and their outcomes should be monitored and analysed on an ongoing basis and the lessons
learnt should be used to develop its practices. Such an assessment could be based on a framework, starting with existing challenges,
such as resourcing issues, and an assessment of activities currently undertaken and moving through the a range of additional factors
such as:
criteria for the selection of planned activity;
criteria for the composition, of working groups, visiting teams, etc; including the involvement of specific forms of professional
expertise,
analysis of problems /challenges; and of good practices identified;
cooperation with other actors;
resources budgeted;
strategies and working methods to be adopted when implementing activities;
recommendations submitted to authorities;
follow-up actions on recommendations, including dialogue with the authorities;
any changes observed, and an assessment of implementation of recommendations;
systematisation of observations, recommendations issued, and the responses received from the authorities, including implementation;
analysis of how and why both successes and failures in effectiving change have occurred;
resources spent;
consideration for the need to develop alternative strategies or approaches.
6.Core activities would be visits to institutions and assessment of legislation related to the mandate of the NPM. Experiences from
visits to institutions could be treated individually for the particular institution or generically.
7.The work of the NPM should be understood to be an ongoing, context-based process of development that is based not only on the
experience of the NPM itself but also on information, advice and experience from other relevant and reliable sources. Members and
staff should receive on-going training on, inter alia, methodological, strategic, and ethical issues and they should participate in
developing working methods.
III.Internal organization
8.NPMs should develop policies and rules of procedure which address, inter alia,:
Employment and dismissal of staff;
Decision making;
Organisation of the office, its work and budgets, including visits to places of detention and drafting of reports;
Sharing information within the NPM;