Upon release from prison, ex-offenders often face barriers when they return to society including lack of financial resources and stigma. The obstacles are even greater for those who were sentenced for violent extremist offences. Therefore, support of local institutions is important especially in the first few months, to ease the return of the released violent extremist offenders (VEOs) to law abiding life. This is an important step in preventing recidivism.

With this in mind, a three-day training session was held on 18 to 20 June in Međugorje for local multidisciplinary teams from Brčko, Hadžići, and Velika Kladuša. These local teams work with the returnees from conflict zones such as Syria.  The training was also attended by the representatives of the BiH Ministry of Security, BiH Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees as well as representatives of justice ministries and prisons from the State and the entities’ level. The aim of the training was to further enhance knowledge and capacities of local multidisciplinary teams in applying standardized operating procedures (SOPs) for provision of post-penal support to VEOs in practice.

The importance of inter-agency cooperation and the work of prisons in preparation for release of VEOs, and the ways to improve it, were some of the main topics. The participants’ skills in conducting risk assessment, in developing individual plans for post-penal support, overall understanding on responsibilities of local institutions in post-release phase of VEOs, and on systems for monitoring and evaluation of post-release support, have improved through case studies and group work.

The Council of Europe will further support the authorities in BiH in strengthening the post-penal support to VEOs and inter-institutional cooperation towards safe and secure society.

The training session was held as part of the Council of Europe’s project “Providing for effective reintegration of violent extremist offenders in Bosnia and Herzegovina (PER-VEO) - Phase I”, funded under the Council of Europe’s Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025.