can help prevent conflicts and disputes between children and adolescents. During visits it was often noticed that there was a lack of lockable storage lockers for personal items. It is much easier to encourage minors to respect other people’s property as an independent asset if they can themselves protect items which belong to them and are particularly important to them (toys, mobile phones, etc.) against being tampered with or damaged. The NPM is therefore of the opinion that lockable storage lockers should be part of minimum provision. The institutions and facilities and competent authorities gave their assurance that shortcomings would soon be rectified. If the door to a child’s room is not lockable from the inside and the room can be entered at any time, the child is unable to withdraw into his/her private sphere as part of self-determination. During final discussions, a number of institutions and facilities told the commissions that they intended to install rotary knobs to ensure rooms are lockable from the inside, though it must also be possible to open doors also at any time by staff if required. This approach ensures compliance with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which sets forth the right to a private life, and Article 16 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The commissions made various criticisms regarding the lack of channels for making complaints and the lack of information regarding current children and youth advocates; this problem was addressed by setting up complaints boxes and putting up posters. At one assisted living and housing facility, the commission drew attention to potential problems relating to data protection, as staff were preparing and saving documentation on their own private PCs. This problem was resolved by restructuring the office facilities, renting a new main office and creating local data storage space for documentation. Whenever staff of small-scale shared accommodations of the city of Vienna ensured that the doors of individual rooms remained locked throughout the night, this was problematic in terms of the interplay of personal freedom and the obligation to provide escape routes and emergency exits. It is permitted for the doors of individual rooms to be locked on a shortterm basis as a precautionary measure if this is the only way to check on persons coming in and out, keep out unwanted guests or prevent children from being exposed to danger. The competent authorities gave their assurance that this would be explained to the sociopedagogic staff. Improved data protection Most of the buildings in which child and youth welfare and protection facilities are located still do not ensure barrier-free accessibility. Several Laender have since stated that they will bear this in mind, at least in the case of new construction or when they rent new facilities.  Needs assessments must be carried out regularly to ensure that capacity for children and adolescents with mental illnesses is increased as necessary. 61