DEFENCE FOR CHILDREN INTERNATIONAL (DCI) - Belgium | Practical Guide related to the deprivation of liberty that could lead to a violation of children’s rights, other offences or abuses to human dignity in this context. For example the practice of the staff members, or stated within the rules or regulations applicable to the place through values or attitudes that take place in the facility. Through a positive approach and a constructive dialogue, the preventive visit will lead to a culture of improvement in the visited places of deprivation of liberty. In that sense, it is also important to focus on dynamics that display good practice and to highlight them. Furthermore, preventive visits can take several forms: ʺʺ In-depth visits will last longer (from 1 to several days) and involve a large professional multidisciplinary team that looks at all or a broad range of aspects of the functioning of a place of deprivation of liberty. Their main objective is to document the situation thoroughly, analyse risk factors and identify both problems and good practice. These visits are carried out regularly by monitoring bodies such as the NPMs. ʺʺ “Snapshot” visits are much shorter (from a few hours to half a day) and involve an individual or a smaller team. The main objective is to get an overall picture of the place of deprivation of liberty. These visits also aim at having a deterrent effect and contributing to the transparency of places of deprivation of liberty and accountability of their management. EU or national Parliamentarians for example are much more likely to conduct such visits. Protective / Investigative visits take place in response to a specific event or complaint lodged by children deprived of liberty. This kind of visit is more occasional. The focus of protective / investigative visits is more individual and reactive. Its purpose is to examine the allegations, to find facts and investigate problematic aspects of the deprivation of liberty that were at the origin of the event or rights violation, in order to restore children in their rights, and potentially to repair the harm that has been caused. In addition to their preventive, protective or investigative role, visits can also have the following functions: ʺʺ Gathering information regarding conditions and treatment in places where children are deprived of their liberty to establish a baseline to assess future improvements; ʺʺ Gathering statistics on the number, the characteristics of children deprived of their liberty and on specific child rights violations (for example, whether children are being imprisoned in adult prisons; whether children in pre-trial detention are experiencing excessive delay in the processing of their cases, etc.); ʺʺ Providing a basis for direct and constructive dialogue with authorities in charge of rehabilitating children deprived of their liberty; 52