Which situations could represent a conflict of interest?
NPM members and staff should be independent from their previous functions. For example, a lawyer cannot follow the case of /or interview one of his or her clients during a prison visit. Likewise, an NGO representative should not provide information to his or her former NGO related to the case of a detainee of interest. Assigning NPM members to work on a full-time basis and ensuring they do not undertake any other professional activity can help mitigate this risk. In addition, it is good practice to include a provision in the law establishing the NPM relating to situations of conflict of interest.
In some cases, members or staff may have social or friendship ties with, for example, penitentiary authorities or detainees. In such case, the member or staff is in a temporary situation of conflict of interest and should declare it, as well as refrain from related interviews or from participating in a specific visit.
The expertise of members and staff with previous professional experience in places of deprivation of liberty may help the NPM to better understand the detention system. However, it could put this person, as a former colleague, in a delicate position and make him or her unable to give constructive and objective feedback. In this case, members or staff could contribute to the preparation of a visit to a place where they have worked in the past, without participating in the visit itself.
NPMs resort sometimes to external experts – with previous experience and knowledge in the field of law enforcement or administration of justice – for advice or to accompany visits to places of detention, without being part of the NPM composition, in order to avoid situations of conflict of interest.
NPM work is operational and demanding. Consequently, members should be paid in accordance with their level of expertise and responsibility. This enables members to work exclusively for the NPM and help in avoiding situations of conflict of interest, where a member or staff of an NPM keeps his or her original job during his or her tenure.