16) Ensure that fundamental safeguards against ill-treatment (including the right of
access to independent medical advice, to legal assistance and to ensure that third
parties are notified of detention) remain available and operable, restrictions on
access notwithstanding;
17) Ensure that all detainees and staff receive reliable, accurate and up to date
information concerning all measures being taken, their duration, and the reasons
for them;
18) Ensure that appropriate measures are taken to protect the health of detention and
medical staff and that they are properly equipped and supported undertaking
their duties;
19) Make available appropriate psychological support to all detainees and staff who
are affected by these measures; and
20) Ensure that, if applicable, all the above considerations are taken into account as regards to
patients who are involuntarily admitted to psychiatric hospitals.
III. Measures to be taken by authorities in respect of those in official places of
quarantine
10. The SPT has already commented on the situation of those held in quarantine in its
previous Advice6. To this, it would further add that:
1) Those who are being temporarily held in quarantine are to be treated at all times
as free agents, except for the limitations necessarily placed upon them, in
accordance with law and on the based on scientific evidence, for quarantine
purposes;
2) They are not to be viewed as, or treated as if they were, ‘detainees’;
3) Quarantine facilities should be of a sufficient size and have sufficient facilities
to permit internal freedom of movement and a range of purposive activities;
4) Communication with families and friends through appropriate means should be
encouraged and facilitated;
5) Since quarantine facilities are de facto a form of detention, all those so held
should be able to benefit from the fundamental safeguards against ill-treatment,
including information of the reasons for their being quarantined, the right of
access to independent medical advice, to legal assistance and to ensure that third
parties are notified of their being in quarantine, in a manner consonant with
their status and situation;
6) That all appropriate measures are taken to avoid those who are in quarantine, or
those who have been in quarantine, from suffering any form of marginalisation
or discrimination, including once they have returned to the community; and
7) Appropriate psychological support should be available for those who need it,
both during and after their period of separation.
6
See above, n 2.
4