CYIL vol. 8 (2017)

ŠTEFAN VIEDENSKÝ CYIL 8 ȍ2017Ȏ from 2002 (date of OPCAT receipt), a new element that has a preventive effect (i.e. the prevention of breach of human rights obligations) has been adopted within the United Nations – regular visits. As detention facilities are the most susceptible places for violation of the CAT Convention, under the OPCAT the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (hereinafter “SPT”) was established. The OPCAT allows both the Subcommittee (on the international level) and the NPM (on the national level) to carry out visits to Prisons, Police Cells, Facilities for institutional and protective education, Facilities for detention of foreigners, Asylum facilities, Social care institutions and Healthcare facilities. Substantive is that a legally integrated system enabling practical supervision of the rules and principles of both international and European conventions, covering all areas of detention facilities, was created. Subsequently the article explains the system of regular visits and show the way the SPT and NPM operate, the course of visits and the manner of publication of their final recommendations and statements. In the second chapter, „The Public Defender of Rights as the National Preventive Mechanism; transforming the Ombuds-institution into National Human Rights Institution“, Ondřej Vala, the Head of the Department for Supervising the Restriction of Personal Freedom from the Office of the Public Defender of Human Rights, focuses especially on the national preventive mechanism in the Czech Republic, the position and functioning of the Ombudsperson, as well as on the reasons why the Public Defender of Rights should be part of the system of NHRIs. Besides other things, he describes the position and activity of this institution in the Czech Republic as part of the NHRIs (National Human Rights Institutions). According the Czech legislation the main role of the Public Defender of Rights (or the Ombudperson) is to ensure protection of rights and legitimate interests mainly in those areas in which the citizens or other entities and subjects encounter offices of state administration. In such cases the Public Defender of Rights is able to fulfil the role of the traditional mediator between the parties involved. As he puts it, systematic visits do not replace control under other legislation, they constitute a superstructure mechanism to protect the rights of people who are restricted in freedom. They are aimed at respecting basic human rights and freedoms, not just respecting legal claims. Their character (the monitoring) is preventive. Under Czech law the Public Defender of Human Right is authorized more for prevention of torture, cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment or ill-treatment, than against immediate and particular from torture. However, in order to be effective in the field of prevention, he is equipped with a number of powers to carry out his functions. In particular, it includes for him and his staff the right of access to places or facilities where people are or may be found to be restricted in their personal liberty, and can do so without any prior notice. The Ombuds- institution position includes permission to inspect all documentation kept by the facility, including medical documentation, or to ask questions of facility staff, and in particular to interview without the presence of others, the concerned persons. After each visit to the facility, the Ombudsman elaborates on a report on his findings and invites the facility to comment on the findings and proposed measures. He may also ask the founder of the facility or the relevant authorities to respond to his observations. If he/she does not find the reaction sufficient, he can use sanctions given him by the law, notify the superior authority (including

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