The National Preventive Mechanism supervised the forced removal procedure of a citizen of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria.

At the beginning of November this year, he was issued a decision to return with a ban on entry into the Republic of Serbia and at the same time his stay at the Shelter for foreigners was determined, where he stayed until his departure.

He left the country via the Nikola Tesla Airport, to which he was escorted by police officers of the Serbian Ministry of the Interior. During the removal procedure of this citizen of Algeria, the NPM did not note any irregularities.

By visiting the Clinic for neurology and psychiatry for children and youth, the representatives of the Protector of Citizens from the Department of the National Preventive Mechanism and the Sector for the rights of the child, gender equality and the rights of persons with disabilities, marked the International Human Rights Day, wishing to highlight the importance of child and adolescent psychiatry and the problems that children and young people with neurological, intellectual and mental disabilities, as well as their parents, face in increasing numbers and at a younger age than before.

The Clinic is the largest institution for pediatric and adolescent neurology and psychiatry in the Balkans and is unique in its application of the concept of neuropsychiatry in the country, and at the same time, it is also a center for rare neurological diseases, the teaching base of the departments of neurology and psychiatry of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Belgrade, as well as the headquarters of the Association for child and adolescent psychiatry and allied professions of Serbia. This institution is unique in its ability to fully diagnose comorbidity i.e. the associated symptoms in the field of neurological and psychiatric disorders, primarily pervasive developmental disorders, which are characteristic of childhood and adolescence.

The management of the Clinic informed the representatives of the Protector of Citizens about the history of the Clinic, the organization of work and the importance of this institution in the health care system. It was emphasized that the Clinic is available to patients 24 hours every day of the year, that classes are organized for school children, and that patients from certain countries in the region are also treated at the Clinic. The representatives of the Protector of Citizens visited the Clinic's premises and accommodation facilities for children and their companions during treatment at the institution. During the visit, employees told the NPM team that there was a need to increase the capacity, i.e. the number of beds for psychiatric patients, as there are currently only ten of them. They also pointed out the need to open a day hospital for psychiatric patients within this institution, in which parental education would also take place.

On Thursday, 28 November, the National Preventive Mechanism monitored two procedures for the forced removal of foreigners from the country.

The NPM representatives monitored the removal of an Afghan national, who was extradited to Bulgaria under the Readmission Agreement. He was transported from the Shelter for Foreigners to the Gradina Border Crossing and handed over to Bulgarian authorities there.

Also, the NPM monitored the removal of an Algerian national who was also staying at the Shelter for Foreigners. He was flown back to Algeria via Rome, accompanied by our police officers. Due to delayed information from the Ministry of the Interior, the NPM failed to follow the complete procedure, and only monitored the removal of the Algerian citizen from the Shelter for Foreigners until he boarded the plane.

Acting on the recommendation of the NPM to provide 24-hour presence of the medical staff at the Penal-Correctional Facility in Niš, the Administration for the Enforcement of Penal Sanctions informed the NPM that it had requested the consent of the RS Government Commission for additional involvement of medical personnel. Also, the development of winter uniforms for members of the Security Service is underway.

With the aim of improving the existing material conditions for persons deprived of their liberty, the Institution continued with the replacement of the remaining old mattresses with new ones, and by the end of the year, all premises where the persons deprived of their liberty are staying will be painted. In order to enable time orientation in the premises in which these persons reside, the Institution provided clocks for facilities for the detention of persons according to the Criminal Procedure Code. As for the recommendation related to providing the 4 square meters of living space for persons deprived of their liberty, the Institution stated in its statement that it is currently unable to act on that recommendation, since the number of accommodated persons exceeds the accommodation capacities of the Institution, but also because the architectural structures of certain facilities do not provide the opportunity to restructure the premises.

On 8 May 2019, the Protector of Citizens, under the mandate of the NPM, made a fourth visit to the Penal-Correctional Facility in Niš, in order to monitor the implementation of recommendations made earlier. Following the visit, a report was drafted with new recommendations for improving the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty.

After two visits of the National Preventive Mechanism to the Penal-Correctional Facility in Sremska Mitrovica and after submitting the report and recommendations to the competent authorities, the Administration for the Enforcement of Penal Sanctions informed the NPM in its response that it had drafted instructions or protocols with standard operating procedures related to the functioning of health services in the institutions, that include the report forms on the application of coercive measures and a body chart for recording injuries, as their integral part. The instructions shall be distributed to all institutes as soon as possible.

The NPM expects that the introduction of these forms will solve the long-standing problem of inadequate reports drawn up by health care services in institutions when implementing coercive measures.

The Penal-Correctional Facility in Sremska Mitrovica will also employ 24 new members of the Security Service, which will, to some extent, alleviate the chronic shortage of members of that Service. This shortcoming was also noted in the previous report, which stated that there were only two commanders in every shift per 125 persons deprived of their liberty in the admissions department.

In its report on the visits to the Penal-Correctional Facility in Sremska Mitrovica, conducted in February and April of 2019, the NPM stated that during its first, unannounced visit, team members checked the use of video surveillance, enforcement of coercive measures and conditions in the admissions department, since during the previous visits, certain problems were recorded regarding these issues. The second visit was announced and focused solely on checking whether the persons who spoke to the NPM representatives during the first visit suffered some consequences and it was determined that they did not.

The cooperation of the management and the employees of the Penal-Correctional Facility in Sremska Mitrovica during both visits was good and the representatives of the NPM team were allowed to fully exercise their competence.
During the first visit, the NPM also visited the animal shelter, since a unique project called „Accept for a new life“ is being implemented at the Penal-Correctional Facility in Sremska Mitrovica. This penal-correctional facility is one of three in Europe to carry out a program of re-socialization of convicts with the help of dogs, and is the only one to have a shelter for stray dogs.

The reports of the Security Service on the enforcement of coercive measures and the internal procedure for accessing and isolating video surveillance footage were assessed by the NPM in its report as examples of good practice. However, it was also found that the measures taken after the 2017 visit did not sufficiently and systematically contribute to a lasting solution to the problem of overcrowding in the admissions department.

Expert in the field of protection of the rights of children and youth with intellectual and mental disabilities, Melanie Reeves from the USA, is on a visit to Serbia for several days, at the invitation of the MDRI-S association.

On this occasion, representatives of the National Preventive Mechanism hosted her today at the institution of the Protector of Citizens, where she held a seminar for employees dealing with the rights of children and persons with disabilities and the NPM representatives, as well as representatives of the competent ministry, on the topic “Children and adults with disabilities have the right to live in the community”. At the end of the lecture, Melanie Reeves also spoke with the Protector of Citizens, Zoran Pasalic, about her findings during visits to state institutions and social welfare homes where children and young people are housed.

The representatives of the NPM, together with the expert, Ms. Reeves, visited the Stationary of the Center for Protection of Infants, Children and Youth in Zvecanska Street on Tuesday, which is the center's largest and most famous organizational unit. The director of the institution, Ivan Milacic, informed the guest about the institution's capacities, the methods of work and the role in the prevention of placement of children in institutions, which the center implements through numerous programs for supporting the biological family.

It was pointed out to the expert, Ms. Reeves, that Serbia is one of the countries with the least number of children in institutions in Europe, that children in Serbia stay for a relatively short time in institutions (from 5 to 7 years), and that there have been some positive results in the field of deinstitutionalization, since today there are only 675 children in institutions and about 5000 in foster families, while some 20 years ago this number was equal.
It was also pointed out that services for the support to biological and foster families are not sufficiently developed for children with disabilities and that foster parents are not sufficiently trained to take care of their needs, which is evidenced by the fact that in the past years there has been on average only one child with disabilities placed in foster families. Children with disabilities, especially those who have significant health problems in addition to intellectual disabilities, are most often not accommodated in small communities of the home type, since there are no material and staffing conditions for this.