GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE NATIONAL PREVENTIVE
MECHANISM
1. The Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT)
The Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture is the first international treaty
that introduces a double system – international and national – for preventing torture and other
forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The OPCAT establishes a Subcommittee on
Prevention of Torture (SPT) on international level, and at the same time requires States Parties
to set up NPMs on national level.
According to the OPCAT, the SPT has three primary operational functions. First, it may
visit any place where persons may be deprived of their liberty. Second, it provides advice and
assistance to the National Preventive Mechanisms and recommendations to the States Parties
with a view to enhancing NPMs’ capacity and mandate. And third, it cooperates with other UN,
international and regional bodies as well as national institutions or organisations working for
the protection of all people deprived of their liberty.
Article 3 OPCAT requires States Parties to “set up, designate or maintain at the domestic
level one or several visiting bodies for the prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment”. This body or bodies are the National Preventive
Mechanism.
Each State Party to the OPCAT has its own way to determine its NPM. Some have
identified existing bodies to carry out the mandate of the NPM, while in others new bodies have
been created to assume this role.
For an NPM to function as an independent body, Article 18 OPCAT requires States
Parties to guarantee the functional and financial independence of the preventive mechanism so
as to ensure that the NPM may function free from any State interference. Article 18 specifically
refers to the Principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and
protection of human rights (“the Paris Principles”).
2. Ombudsman Act
The NPM's function has been delegated to the Ombudsman by the amendments and
supplements to the Ombudsman Act, promulgated in State Gazette (SG), issue no. 29 of 10
April 2012.
A new chapter was included in the law, which translates the requirements of OPCAT:
"a" National Preventive Mechanism (new – SG no. 29/2012, effective as of 11 May
2012)
Article 28 (а) (new – SG no. 29/2012, effective as of 11 May 2012) (1) The powers of
the Ombudsman as a National Preventive Mechanism concern places where there are persons
deprived of their liberty, or where persons are detained or accommodated as a result of an act
or with the consent of a public authority, which places they cannot leave at their own will, in
order to protect such persons from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment.
(2) The Ombudsman shall be entitled to:
1. access at any time without prior notice to all places of detention under paragraph 1
and to their installations and facilities;
2. access to all information concerning the number of persons deprived of their liberty
in places of detention as defined in paragraph 1, as well as the number of places and their
location;
3