HF II North Macedonia - Enhancing penitentiary system External Oversight Mechanism

As part of the co-operation framework co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe, known as the Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey, phase II (Horizontal Facility II), the Council of Europe implemented the Action “Enhancing the capacities of the penitentiary system and the External Oversight Mechanism in North Macedonia”, in close cooperation and partnership with the Ministry of Justice (Directorate for Execution of Sanctions), Ministry of Health, Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Ombudsman’s Office. The Action also involved a wide group of other national stakeholders, including prominent civil society organisations active in the area of protection and promotion of human rights.

The main aim of the Action was to contribute to a safer and more humane society that respects and protects the rights of detained and sentenced persons in line with the Council of Europe standards in the area of penitentiary and law enforcement.

The key Conventions for this Action were the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), as well as the recommendations of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) and the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

The duration of the project was set at 36 months and it was completed by 31 December 2022, with an overall budget of 1,050,000 Euros.

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PROJECT NEWS

Back Delegation from North Macedonia gets acquainted with the healthcare provision within the Spanish penitentiary system

@ Council of Europe

A delegation from North Macedonia, consisting of prison doctors, senior officials of the Ministry of Health, the Head and representatives of the Directorate for the Execution of Sanctions (DES), benefitted from a study visit to Madrid, carried out in the period from 31 May to 2 June 2022. The visit successfully facilitated exchange of experiences, good practices and lessons learnt on healthcare provision in prisons.

During the visit, the delegation had fruitful meetings with the representatives of the Spanish General Secretariat of Penitentiary Institutions and visited two prisons near Madrid, resulting with better understanding of the transfer of healthcare protection to the community services, the current mental health programmes, telemedicine, as well as inter-institutional coordination. The representatives of the Spanish prison administration shared the know-how and challenges related to the transfer of the provision of healthcare in prisons to the Ministry of Health.

It is expected from this study visit to contribute towards further enhancement of the cooperation between the Ministries of Justice and Health in North Macedonia, applying the Spanish experience. The gained experience could help the authorities in North Macedonia to better plan and use available resources, improve training provision and increase employability rates of medical staff in future.

This activity was organised under the action on “Enhancing the capacities of the penitentiary system and the External Oversight Mechanism in North Macedonia”, which is a part of the joint European Union and Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022".

Spain / North Macedonia 2 June 2022