BackOn 28 January 2011, the Croatian Parliament adopted the Law on the Preventive Mechanism for Suppression of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment (Law on the NPM), by which the Republic of Croatia has fulfilled its obligation after signing the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment (OPCAT).
The new law entrusts the Ombudsman with the task of National Preventive Mechanism. Such a solution is logical, as the Ombudsman has already been monitoring closed institutions and has been accredited as a NHRI with A status, according to the Paris Principles. While performing the duty of NPM, the Ombudsman shall obligatorily engage representatives of civil society and academics. If necessary, it may engage other experts.
The main task of the NPM is to regularly examine the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty in places of detention, with a view to strengthening their protection against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Having in mind the great number of institutions in Croatia where persons deprived of liberty are placed (penitentiary system, detention places, police stations, psychiatric institutions, detention centres for aliens, other legal persons providing social care, family homes providing care for mentally impaired adults, elderly persons, children with mental di order, etc.) it is necessary that the State allocate sufficient funding in the budget for implementing the law.
Along with regular visits to any place where persons are or may be deprived of their liberty, the Ombudsman has the power to: make recommendations to the relevant authorities with the aim of improving the treatment and the conditions of persons deprived of their liberty and to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; submit proposals and observations concerning existing or draft legislation; and maintain contacts with the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture by sending it information and meeting with it.
The Ombudsman shall, in due course, prescribe the rules of procedure for the nomination of the external NPM members and its working methods.
© Office of the Croatian Ombudsman, February 2011
