Back11.11.2014
The Parliamentary Ombudsman has become the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) pursuant to the United Nations (UN) Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT). The National Preventive Mechanism conducts inspections of places in which persons deprived of their liberty are held.
The OPCAT's scope of application is intended to be as broad as possible. In addition to prisons, the remit of the OPCAT includes pre-trial detention facilities, immigration detention, psychiatric or social care institutions, child protection units, and care facilities and residential units for elderly and persons with disabilities. Places falling under the scope of application run into thousands.
In practice it may be a question of making visits to, for example, elderly care homes for those suffering from dementia in order to prevent their mistreatment and/or any abuse of their self-determination rights.
For more information, please visit the Parliamentary Ombudsman's website.
Source: Parliamentary Ombudsman, FINLAND
