10th anniversary of the National Preventive Mechanism.

On July 2, 2013, the National Preventive Mechanism against Torture (NPM) was established in Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan has ratified the UN Convention and the Optional Protocol against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

The NPM represents a whole system for the prevention of illegal types of treatment, created in accordance with the specified international treaties of the UN.

The purpose of this institute is to involve citizens of Kazakhstan in the implementation of independent preventive expert visits to institutions and organizations in which persons are temporarily accommodated on the basis of decisions of courts and competent state bodies.

The NPM consists of selected members of public associations carrying out activities to protect the rights of citizens, as well as lawyers, social workers, and doctors.

In order to effectively coordinate this institution, a consultative and advisory body, the Coordinating Council (CC), has been established under the Commissioner for Human Rights.

The CC interacts with the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture, selects the participants of the NPM, forms regional groups and appoints their leaders, determines the schedule of visits, accepts visit reports, prepares a consolidated report of the NPM, and otherwise contributes to the implementation of the mandate of the Ombudsman within the framework of the NPM.

Since the establishment of this institute, a lot of work has been done to develop it.

The coverage of mandated institutions has been expanded several times from 597 to 3,434. The number of participants in the NPM has been increased to 136.

Thanks to the indifferent attitude and responsible work, the NPM was able to identify a number of violations in the work of law enforcement agencies, penitentiary institutions related to the conditions of detention, torture, ill-treatment and punishment of persons deprived of their liberty.

They conducted about 5 thousand preventive visits, following which more than 10 thousand recommendations were sent to the authorized state bodies.

The Ombudsman and his office are actively working to further improve this institution, methods of preventing torture, strengthen the independence of its participants and increase their potential.

The Commissioner for Human Rights and his office congratulate the participants of the NPM and express gratitude for their hard work and wish them success in their future work.