The fourth Steering Committee (SC) meeting of the Project “Enhancing the Effectiveness of the CMBs in line with the European Standards” took place online on 30 March 2021. The results achieved over the last 6-month period (October 2020-March 2021) were presented, along with the project’s success to adapt its working methodology in light of the challenges faced due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Among the achievements highlighted was the finalisation of the CMBs monitoring toolkit and the submission of the final proposal on amending the CMBs’ legislative framework to the authorities. The draft amendments are fully in line with the Human Rights Action Plan for Turkey and its expected adoption will be a significant step forward to further strengthening CMBs’ independence and enhancing the impact of their work.
The meeting brought together 30 participants, including representatives from the Ministry of Justice Directorate General for Prisons and Detention Houses, representatives of CMBs, academia, civil society, enforcement judge, the Ministry of Justice Directorate General for Foreign and EU Affairs, Embassy of Switzerland, Embassy of Sweden and Embassy of Canada in Ankara, as well as the Council of Europe. The SC members engaged in fruitful discussion on the attained results and the future activities and, as a result, adopted the work plan for the upcoming period (April – September 2021).
The Project “Enhancing the Effectiveness of the Civil Monitoring Boards in Turkey in line with the European Standards” is funded by Sweden, Switzerland, the Republic of Turkey, the Human Rights Trust Fund and Canada.
