45 Hospital „Prof. Dr. Alexandru Obregia ”, Bucharest City; Youth Addiction Treatment Center „Sf. Stelian” Bucharest Municipality; The Psychiatric Hospital „Sf. Nicolae” Roman, Neamț County; The Clinical Hospital of Psychiatry and Neurology Brașov, Vulcan section; Social Center Night Shelter Târgu-Mureș; Mureș County Agency for Payments and Social Inspection; D.G.A.S.P.C. Mures Gymnasium School no. 7 Targu-Mures; Târgu-Mureș City Hall; Mureș County Council; Oradea Prison; The Psychiatric Hospital Sighetul Marmatiei / D.G.A.S.P.C. Maramures; The Psychiatric Hospital Sibiu; D.G.A.S.P.C. Mehedinți, Baia de Arama City Hall, Mehedinți County, D.G.A.S.P.C. Dolj “Casa Speranței” Association Campina, Prahova County; D.G.A.S.P.C. Prahova. Some of the investigations were carried out in order to prepare the Special Report on the situation of human rights in the psychiatric hospitals in Romania, published in November 2019. Proposals for legislative changes: ► Clarify, in the mental health legislation, the issues related to the accommodation and supervision of patients voluntarily admitted and those involuntarily admitted to psychiatric institutions. During the visit to the Voila Psychiatric Hospital, the members of the NPM found the existence of safety / surveillance rooms, rooms in which both non-voluntary and voluntary patients were admitted, whose freedom of movement was restricted, and the rooms were locked. The patients voluntarily admitted were thus permanently supervised and could not move freely through the hospital, under the conditions where, according to Art. 6 paragraph (4) of the Norm of application of Law no. 487/2002 of the mental health and protection of persons with mental disorders, republished, the supervision of the persons admitted voluntarily is performed at variable intervals, respecting the privacy of the person. Thus, considering the unclear status of the safety rooms within the Voila Psychiatric Hospital, the NPM team considers that the provisions of Art. 3 paragraph (1) and Art. 6 paragraph (4) of the Norm of application of Law no. 487/2002, republished, according to which: the minimum obligatory facilities of a psychiatric structure are: a) beds distributed in rooms, including rooms for the continuous supervision of men and women, in compliance with the norms stipulated by the legislation in force and during the voluntary hospitalization, the patients will be supervised according to the current medical indication and in accordance with the internal regulation of the health unit, as they are formulated, leaves to the psychiatric institutions the interpretation of the legal provisions regarding the supervision of the admitted persons (voluntary or involuntary) in psychiatric hospitals, interpretation that may to be influenced by economic aspects, by the professional training of the personnel in the matter of the rights of persons with disabilities (dignity, nondiscrimination, autonomy, privacy, freedom, security). Thus, there is a high risk that patients with mental disorders will be subjected to illtreatment. ►complete the legislation in the field of mental health in the sense of ensuring the legal counseling of the patients admitted to the psychiatric institutions, during the entire period of hospitalization, by lawyers within the Bars’ Legal Aid Services, considering that: - informing on the rights, the complaints procedure and the involuntary admission procedure is an essential guarantee against torture and ill-treatment; - The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has formulated REC (2004) 10 (art. 6) according to which persons treated or placed in relation with mental disorder should be individually informed of their rights as patients and have access to a competent person or body, independent of the mental health service, that can, if necessary, assist them to understand and exercise these rights; PEOPLE’S ADVOCATE ANNUAL REPORT 2019