On April 29, 2015 the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights (BIM) hosted the final conference of an EU-funded project to strengthen follow-up to NPM recommendations and thus, improved torture prevention in the EU. The event took place in Vienna at the Haus der Europäischen Union, and brought together more than 60 representatives coming from NPMs in the EU, CPT and SPT, EU institutions, civil society and independent experts. The conference gave the opportunity to present a Good Practice Study on NPM follow-up in the EU in the framework of the project, jointly produced by the BIM and the Human Rights Implementation Centre of the University of Bristol (HRIC), and provided the chance to exchange experiences with a view to strengthening cooperation and professional networks.

The project Strengthening the effective implementation and follow-up of recommendations by torture monitoring bodies in the European Union was carried out by the BIM in partnership with the HRIC. It started in March 2014 and is due to be completed by May 2015. Its aim is to strengthen the effective implementation and follow-up of recommendations by NPMs in the EU by conducting comprehensive research on good practices of follow-up procedures. Furthermore, the project aims to support and improve coordination between NPMs, the CPT and the SPT through a series of workshops that were conducted in the framework of the project. Over the course of the project, the BIM and the HRIC carried out research on the standards, principles, procedures and mechanisms concerning follow-up to the recommendations of the various torture monitoring bodies and held direct consultations with the different representatives.

Two workshops were organised in Vienna and Bristol to provide a platform for representatives of NPMs, CPT and SPT to exchange experiences and practices regarding follow-up procedures, as well as methodologies and the modalities of a systematic dialogue with State authorities on different levels.

All collected practices and lessons learnt have been then analysed in a Good Practice Study. The Study was presented at the conference of 29 April 2015, and published as a booklet for practitioners and policy-makers.