IOI | Workshop for National Preventive Mechanisms successfully held in Oslo

The IOI was pleased to continue the successful training series for Ombudsman with a mandate as National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) with a workshop in Oslo, which was generously hosted by the Office of the Norwegian Parliamentary Ombud and successfully delivered by the IOI’s long-standing and experienced partner, the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT).

Persons with mental health conditions remain among those most at risk of torture and other forms of ill-treatment. Mental health systems still rely heavily on coercive practice, which are often justified in the name of protection or medical necessity. National Preventive Mechanisms (NPMs) have a unique mandate to identify such risks and ensure that those concerned are treated with dignity.

Yet they often also face challenges and NPMs that have been operating for many years can struggle to maintain visibility, political traction, and institutional energy — despite years of valuable monitoring and recommendations.

The Oslo workshop therefore addressed two complementary topics:

• strengthening the preventive lens in mental health institutions; and
  
  
• equipping NPMs to translate their monitoring into sustained change.
  
  

The overall objective of this workshop series – which is offered to IOI members free of charge – is to enhance the capacity of NPMs and Ombudsman institutions to prevent torture and ill-treatment and to generate sustainable change.

The Oslo workshop brought together 30 participants from all six IOI Regions, to deepen their understanding of the unique risks linked to deprivation of liberty in mental health institutions.  Furthermore, it provided a platform to share monitoring approaches and methodologies and explore concrete strategies to sustain institutional impact and to maintain the preventive work visible and relevant.

Source: IOI General Secretariat