HF II Regional - Enhancing penitentiary capacities in addressing radicalisation in prisons

As part of the second phase of the European Union and the Council of Europe co-funded cooperation framework “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey” (Horizontal Facility II), the Council of Europe implemented a Regional Action on “Enhancing penitentiaries capacities in addressing radicalization in prisons in Western Balkans”. The Action was implemented in close cooperation with the Ministries of Justice and the P/CVE coordination bodies of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Republic of Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia…. The Action included a wide spectrum of other national stakeholders and civil society organizations active in the penitentiary field and countering violent extremism and radicalisation in prisons.

The main aim of the Action was to enhance regional security by improving the inter-institutional exchange of knowledge and good practices in the region in respect of radicalization in prisons, with a view on providing penitentiary system staff with necessary standards, tools and instruments needed to respond appropriately. Another important goal was to empower in-county multi-agency coordination to counter radicalization in prison and to provide adequate post-penal support to released violent extremist offenders.

The Action also assisted the national authorities to ensure that the application of the tools and mechanisms on national level with regards to addressing radicalisation in prisons further strengthens in light of the identified good practices in the region.

The Action’s duration was set at 36 months and it iwas completed by 31 December 2022, with an overall budget of 2,000,000.000 Euros.

* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.

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Back Experts from the Western Balkans region embark on a role as HELP tutors for the Radicalisation Prevention course

@ Council of Europe

Local consultants from all 6 Horizontal Facility (HF) Beneficiaries participated at the on-line Training of Trainers (ToT) on HELP methodology under the Radicalisation Prevention course.

The ToT was initial preparation of the trainees for their role as future HELP tutors, who will adapt the course to local legal framework and specific circumstances, and later-on moderate and evaluate the implementation of the course for prison and probation staff in the respective Western Balkans Beneficiaries.

The participants received insight into the HELP Programme and its methodology along with the wide spectrum of the e-learning tools and technical abilities it offers. On the practical side, they learned from the experience of implementation of the HELP Radicalisation Prevention course in Spain and what difficulties could be anticipated and how to mitigate those challenges during the early planning stages. They also acquired skills on how to motivate trainees to make the most of the HELP e-learning platform as an interactive knowledge resource.

The HELP course on Radicalisation Prevention for prison and probation staff will be launched in the Western Balkans region beginning of 2021.

The activity was implemented on 6–7 October 2020, within the scope of the Regional action “Enhancing penitentiary capacities in addressing radicalisation in prisons in the Western Balkans” that is a part of the joint European Union/Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022”, implemented by the Council of Europe.

6-7 October 2020