National Agency Submits Annual Report 2015

Wiesbaden/Berlin – The National Agency's Annual Report 2015 was submitted today to the Parliamentarian Secretary of State, Christian Lange, at the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection by the Head of the Federal Agency for the Prevention of Torture, Klaus Lange-Lehngut. The National Agency visited 58 institutions in 2015. The Federal Agency maintained its spotlight on the handling of the increased number of refugees by the Federal Police. During its visits, it found no hints of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. On the contrary, given the challenging situation in terms of facilities and human resources, Mr Lange-Lehngut recognised the Federal Police's efforts. "The Federal Agency will continue to pay attention to this issue during future visits" said Lange-Lehngut.

The spotlight of the Joint Commission's visits in 2015 was the execution of youth imprisonment. The general situation in the juvenile penal institutions in terms of safeguarding humane conditions was good. Furthermore, the Joint Commission has now visited police stations in all 16 Federal States.

Since the beginning of 2015, the number of members of the Joint Commission has doubled. This was an important step forward for the Joint Commission, as it could take up visits in areas that had hitherto been only scarcely covered or which had not been dealt with at all (among others, residential care homes and nursing homes for the elderly, psychiatric hospitals, and child and youth welfare facilities). The Joint Commission continued its networking activities during a second meeting with the Austrian Ombudsman Board and the Swiss National Commission for the Prevention of Torture in Vienna.