An independent national monitoring mechanism, provided it possesses the necessary knowledge, is adequately resourced and truly independent, can make a significant contribution to the prevention of ill- treatment in places of deprivation of liberty, concluded the participants of the opening conference of the “Project on Enhancing the Effectiveness of Civil Monitoring Boards in Line with European Standards”, which took place on 7 November in Ankara.
The conference, which gathered more than 200 prison practitioners, representatives from the Ministry of Justice, the Directorate General for Prisons and Detention Houses (DGPDH), members of the Civil Monitoring Boards (CMB), prison governors, representatives from the civil society, enforcement judges, prosecutors, the Ombudsman office, the National Preventive Mechanism, academics, as well as representatives from several Embassies in the Republic of Turkey, donors of the Project.
Mr Ugurhan Kus, Deputy Minister of Justice of Turkey welcomed the launching of the Project emphasising the commitment of Turkey on zero tolerance to torture and ill treatment. It is important to raise the life standards of the prisoners and detainees with respect to their fundamental rights, aiming to reintegrate them into the society after their release, pointed the Deputy Minister.
Mr Matthew Bar, Head of the Resource Mobilisation and Donor Coordination Division, Council of Europe, stated that the Council of Europe has a long history of cooperation with Turkey, and further highlighted that this joint initiative of the Ministry of Justice of Turkey and the Council of Europe, build upon the success of our work together so far, and in particular on the results of previous projects.
Through our support to this project, we hope to assist Turkey to meet its obligations as a Council of Europe member state by improving the independence and efficiency of its civil monitoring boards, said Ms Stephanie Duhaime, Charge d’affaires of the Embassy of Canada in Ankara.
Mr Tiziano Balmelli, Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of Switzerland in Ankara concluded that diverse, well-trained and respected Civil Monitoring Boards are an important player in this field. If the people in these boards are given access and their feedback is taken into account, everybody in the institutions and the society will benefit from the improved situation.
For Magnus Collett, Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy if Sweden in Ankara the project takes a human rights approach and will specifically address the needs of particularly vulnerable groups deprived of their freedom- whether they be juveniles, elderly, women, sexual minorities, or life-and long- term prisoners.
Mr Yilmaz Ciftci, Director General of Prisons and Detention Houses, stressed that it is crucial to have a transparent and independent monitoring particularly in the penitentiary institutions. Based on the past experience with the CoE in the project implemented in 2009-12 to modernise the prison system, the aim of the project launched today as strengthening the civil monitoring boards and other monitoring bodies on the ground of national and international human rights standards by establishing a coordinated work methodology, concluded the Director General.
The conference was organised within the Project entitled “Enhancing the Effectiveness of the Civil Monitoring Boards in Turkey in line with the European Standards” funded by the Sweden, Switzerland, the Republic of Turkey, the Human Rights Trust Fund (that brings together Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom) and Canada. The project with an overall budget of 1,6 million euros will run until May 2022.
