HF II Albania - Enhancing the protection of Human Rights for prisoners

Building upon the results achieved from the implementation of the first phase of European Union and Council of Europe programmatic framework “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey” (Horizontal Facility), the new Action “Enhancing the protection of human rights of prisoners in Albania” assisted the Albanian authorities to further enhance prison reform and the protection of the human rights of prisoners. It was implemented in close partnership with the Ministry of Justice, the Directorate General of the Prison Administration and with other relevant institutions and stakeholders, including civil society organisations active in the penitentiary field.

The Action covered four main areas:

Introduction of the effective human resources and sustainable training programme for prison management;
Strengthening the provision of health care to prisoners with a particular focus on detainees with mental disorders and the implementation of suicide prevention strategy;
Strengthening the process of rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners with a particular focus on the implementation of a standard system of risk management;
Improvements in the treatment of vulnerable groups of prisoners, in particular high risk /violent prisoners, sex offenders and female prisoners.

The Action was completed on 31 December 2022, with an overall budget of 640,000 EUR.

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Back 1st Working Group meeting on education and employment opportunities for prisoners in Albania

The Council of Europe is working together with the Directorate General of Prison Administration (DGPA) and the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Albania to improve education, vocational training and employment opportunities for prisoners in Albania.

As part of these efforts, a 1-day working group session was organised on 16 December that gathered all involved actors, namely the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance, National Agency for Vocational Qualification, National Employment Services, National Agency for Social Services, Municipality of Tirana, NGOs and business representatives. The WG session provided them with forum to exchange experiences and learn from their challenges, evidence past difficulties and current systemic shortcomings, discuss interests and options on a possible course of action.

Based on the input collected, the working group was mandated to draft a National Strategy on Improving Education and Employment Opportunities for Prisoners in Albania, together with an action plan and a tailor-made national model to be recommended to high-level decision makers.

This activity was organised as online event within the scope of the Action “Enhancing the protection of human rights of prisoners in Albania”, co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe within the second phase of the “Horizontal Facility for Western Balkans and Turkey” and implemented by the Council of Europe.

16 December 2020