The Hungarian National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) has organized online the first meeting of the Network in 2021 on the impact of COVID-19 to NPM activities, with special regard to the challenges and visiting priorities.
The representatives of the CPT, SPT, APT and the members of the Network shared their experience and visiting methods during the COVID-19 pandemic. The coronavirus disease had caused a great challenge for each entity. In March 2020 almost every participants had to suspend temporarily the visits with regard to the ‘do no harm’ principle. The NPMs had adapted to the new circumstances, some of them launched online visits and interviews (via phone or video chat) with the detainees, while some others restarted the regular visits to places of detention.