COVID-19 AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN CLOSED INSTITUTIONS 2.2 Right to family life Key aspects » Contact with the outside world is crucial for the well-being of persons deprived of liberty and their relatives » Initially, visits by relatives were suspended due to COVID-19, making it necessary to find measures compensating for the suspended or limited visits Under international law, although deprivation of liberty inevitably entails some limitations on a detainee´s private and family life, any interference with this right must be justified and detaining authorities must uphold the rights and protect the dignity of those deprived of liberty.37 To prevent an outbreak of the Coronavirus in closed institutions, most facilities restricted visits. In Austria, Germany and Italy, visits were banned entirely during the first lockdown. Later, visits resumed, but with several limitations. A glass pane separated relatives and persons concerned, and the number of persons per visits and the visiting hours were restricted. In most cases, only one or two persons were allowed to visit for 30 to 60 minutes. Consequently, some relatives, especially those pertaining to a risk group, did not take the long journey (note: often detention facilities are located far from the relatives’ home town) for such a short amount of time. In Germany, the allowed frequency of receiving visits per person concerned varied widely from once a week to once a month. One Austrian interviewee explained similar limitations with the PROMISING PR AC TICE lack of staff to screen each visitor for symptoms. In Italy, the calls were for free and the use of In order to compensate for the restriction on visits, several platforms, in- several countries offered an increased number of cluding WhatsApp was phone calls, secured mobile phones and/or video enabled to facilitate calls. However, some persons concerned could not afford additional phone calls in Austria and Gercontact with relatives. many due to relatively high fees. Therefore, in Austria, in some cases, persons concerned were supported financially. Also in Germany, the costs were reduced or suspended in some places. In a few other cases, patients were allowed to use mobile phones. Even having been free of charge in all three countries, video calls, where actually 7