Introduction Introduction This report provides information on the work of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) in 2020. The work was significantly affected by two key impacts of the pandemic: On the one hand, there was a need to address the new risk to human rights persons were exposed to due to the coronavirus-related restrictions and associated isolation. On the other hand, the restrictions also directly affected the monitoring work of the commissions. It was not possible to conduct any visits to institutions and facilities during the first lockdown from the middle of March to the end of May 2020. Knowledge about the novel virus and its infectiousness was still very sparse at this time. The risk of infection on monitoring visits, in particular in retirement and nursing homes, could not be reliably assessed. Personal contact would thus have been irresponsible. Visits were also not possible simply because there was no suitable personal protective equipment (PPE) for the commissions in the beginning. Impacts of the pandemic on monitoring work In spring 2020, the NPM thus opted for an alternative way of achieving the best possible protection of persons whose freedom is restricted. The NPM commissions conducted over 160 telephone interviews with the care services in retirement and nursing homes amongst other things, and documented the problems that had to be solved during and after the lockdown. For many of the monitored institutions the NPM gathered the demands and recommendations in the interviews and the results were directed to the authorities and politicians with a view to covering the framework for measures to be taken during the pandemic. The commissions were able to resume their visits under strict hygiene and safety measures from June 2020. A total of 448 visits were conducted in the reporting year, of which 431 were in institutions and facilities and 17 at police operations. Most of the visits were in retirement and nursing homes (109), in child and youth welfare facilities (102) and in institutions for persons with disabilities (93). 448 monitoring visits The findings from the visits are summarised in chapter 2. As in previous years, not all of the results could be documented in this report due to the large number of visits conducted. The depiction concentrates on human rights issues the NPM considers critical and reported cases of maladministration that go above and beyond isolated cases thereby implying system-related deficits. In many cases, they are directly related to the restrictions and measures implemented to combat the pandemic. They were also the consequence of a pandemic-related lack of resources: insufficient staff, too little PPE, too few funds. This report also shows, however, that regardless of the special situation in 2020, there are serious deficits in many areas. Some of these were the subject matter of previous reports such as inadequate furnishings and equipment Human rights at risk due to COVID-19 10