With a view to improving national prevention, the APT offers legal advice on criminalising torture, provides training on visiting places of detention; gives advice on the establishment and functioning of national prevention mechanisms; and advocates for legislative reform,  ratification and implementation of relevant international treaties.
The APT works in cooperation with a relatively broad variety of partners, who share its objectives, such as state authorities, police services, the judiciary, national human rights institutions, international organisations and NGOs.

Develop legal instruments
The APT assists in the drafting and implementation of international and regional legal instruments to prevent torture. These include the UN Convention against Torture and its Optional Protocol (OPCAT); the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and the Robben Island Guidelines for the Prohibition and Prevention of Torture in Africa.

Advocate for preventive mechanisms
The APT advocates and lobbies governments, national institutions, parliamentarians, NGOs, regional bodies and the United Nations to establish and maintain effective torture prevention mechanisms. The APT leads the campaign to ratify and implement the OPCAT which establishes the first global system of detention monitoring.

Strengthen capacities
The APT works with key national, regional and international actors to strengthen their capacity to prevent torture. Specifically, the APT advises states on how to establish and maintain independent visiting bodies, trains national institutions and NGOs on monitoring places of detention, trains the police and judiciary on legal norms and safeguards against torture, and provides advice on legislative reforms to better prevent torture at national level.

Produce practical tools
The APT develops and disseminates practical tools to prevent torture. These include a guide on monitoring places of detention, a manual on the provisions of the OPCAT, a training DVD on the UN treaty bodies, a toolkit to develop national preventive mechanisms and training course materials.