Torture is a grave violation of human rights and is absolutely prohibited under international law. It can never be justified, under any circumstances. With the aim of raising awareness of these facts, the United Nations established the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, which is marked on 26 June, the day on which the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment entered into force in 1987.<\/p>\n
The prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment was further strengthened by the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT), which entered into force 20 years ago. It established a system of regular preventive visits to places where persons deprived of liberty are held, while states that have ratified it are obliged to establish national preventive mechanisms.<\/p>\n
In line with this, the National Preventive Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (NPM) began operating in Croatia in 2012, with the mandate entrusted to the institution of the Ombudswoman.<\/p>\n
The work of the NPM includes regular and unannounced visits to places where persons deprived of liberty are, or may be, held, or where persons are subjected to any form of detention, imprisonment or placement in a place under public supervision which they are not allowed to leave at will. These include, for example, prisons and penitentiaries, psychiatric hospitals, hospital psychiatric wards, police stations and detention units, reception facilities for applicants for international protection, reception centres for foreigners, and homes for older and infirm persons.<\/p>\n
During visits, NPM representatives have free access to all data and information and may speak with persons deprived of liberty without supervision and without the presence of officials of the institution. Following visits, the NPM sends a report to the institution containing recommendations and warnings, precisely with the aim of preventing torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.<\/p>\n
In addition to preventive visits, the NPM contributes to protection against torture in Croatia through proposals and comments on laws and other regulations, as well as draft laws and other draft regulations, with a view to promoting the protection of persons deprived of liberty from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. It also does so through cooperation with the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (SPT).<\/p>\n
More information on the role of the NPM is available here, while the latest information on work related to the prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment can be found in the Ombudswoman\u2019s Report for 2025, in the following chapters:<\/p>\n
Torture is a grave violation of human rights and is absolutely prohibited under international law. It can never be justified, under any circumstances. With the aim of raising awareness of these facts, the United Nations established the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, which is marked on 26 June, the day on which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":6405,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[169],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24321"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24324,"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24321\/revisions\/24324"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}