The final Steering Committee (SC) meeting of the project “Ensuring sustainable penitentiary actions in managing rehabilitation of violent extremist prisoners in Bosnia and Herzegovina” (ESPA-VEP) took place on 4 December 2024 in Banja Luka.

The SC gathered all prison directors and representatives from the Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Ministry of Justice and Ministries of Justice of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska to take stock of the results and achievements of the ESPA-VEP project.

The participants took stock of the progress achieved when it comes to improving interagency cooperation, especially in terms of the preparation for release of violent extremist prisoners (VEPs). Moreover, the discussion revolved around the project activities which further assisted in setting up prison operational work in all 14 prisons in the country and unifying training plans and programmes for the staff managing these high-risk prisoners. Furthermore, the participants acknowledged that for the first-time steps were made towards strengthening the wellbeing and mental health of prison staff working with VEPs and those vulnerable to radicalisation.

The SC members reiterated their support to further strengthening the system of rehabilitation and reintegration of VEPs and other inmates vulnerable to radicalisation and confirmed their commitment towards making further efforts in this respect.

The activity was implemented within the framework of the Council of Europe action “Ensuring sustainable penitentiary actions in managing rehabilitation of violent extremist prisoners in Bosnia and Herzegovina (ESPA-VEP)” funded under the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025.