Exchange Meeting of the South East European NPM Network

From 15th  to 16th  November, the second meeting of this year of the Southeast European Network of NPMs (National Preventive Mechanisms) was held under the chairmanship of the Austrian Ombudsman Board.

Within the framework of this network, the 13 NPMs (Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo) meet regularly to exchange experiences. A representative of the Council of Europe, which supports the network within the framework of the "European NPM Forum", and a representative of the NPM from Georgia also took part.

The topics of the meeting were "Coercive measures in adolescents and adults with mental illness" and "Children and adolescents with mental and physical disabilities". The NPMs presented the situations in the respective countries, addressing the legal basis for placement and the use of coercive measures, as well as the current main challenges. Lack of staff in general and lack of well-trained staff in particular, as well as lack of infrastructure, are the biggest problems.

In the course of the exchange, joint recommendations were developed, which will be published on the website of the SEE NPM Network.