Report | Covid-19 in closed institutions: National findings and implications moving forward
Following the end of the first phase of the EU COVID-19 Solidarity Programme For Eastern Partnership, the Netherlands Helsinki Committee has published a new report “Covid-19 in closed institutions: National findings and implications moving forward”. The report was developed along with Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor (Armenia), Moldovan Institute for Human Rights (IDOM) (Moldova), Ukraine without Torture (Ukraine) and Penal Reform International (Georgia)
For the project People in Need (PIN), Netherlands Helsinki Committee (NHC), GIP, and AFEW International (AFEW) joined forces to initially propose a set of interventions in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and contribute towards longer term socio-economic resilience of vulnerable groups. A first step in this project was to explore the situation in the countries under study through intensive monitoring activities, in order to better understand what was needed in terms of advocacy and policy change. The results of this first phase are presented in the report.
The report highlights findings based on prisoners rights such as:
- Reduced contact with the outside world
- Lower availability of rehabilitation and reintegration programmes
- Insufficient information on Covid-19
- Varied access to healthcare among different countries and institutions
- Access to mental health services dependent on Covid-19 tests
Most importantly, the report provides an array of recommendations from the participating countries. The recommendations are grouped into 4 key aspects: Contact with the outside world, Rehabilitation and reintegration programmes, Information on Covid-19 and Healthcare (preventative and response).
Read the full report here.
