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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Useful information

PROJECT NEWS

Back New website/webplatform on addressing radicalisation and violent extremism in prisons, launched

Professionals, stakeholders and key actors in the field of penitentiary and probation in the Western Balkans, but also the general public with interest in the field, can now access the new website/webplatform, covering various aspects of countering violent extremism and radicalisation in prisons. The website and web-platform https://wbregionprisons.coe.int, available in English and the local languages of the Western Balkans, was developed with the support of the EU and the Council of Europe (CoE) joint Horizontal Facility II programme - Regional action “Enhancing penitentiary capacities in addressing radicalisation in prisons in the Western Balkans”.

The website is open to all visitors and offers a wide array of useful information including an overview of the main tools and documents on radicalisation in prisons and disengagement from violence, produced by the action, as well as reference to relevant legal instruments, CoE publications and links to other institutions and organisations. In addition, the interested audience may find useful materials on different related topics, such as risk and needs assessment of violent extremist prisoners (VEPs), their rehabilitation and reintegration process back into society and capacity building of prison and probation professionals involved in VEPs management.

On the other side, the dedicated web-platform for prison, probation and other professionals from all 6 Western Balkans Beneficiaries working on preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE), is offering them the opportunity to communicate and interact between themselves on regular basis. By granting access to the platform, they will be able to exchange P/CVE related documents, share experiences and practices, hence enhance the regional cooperation and overall security in all 6 Beneficiaries.

The website and the platform https://wbregionprisons.coe.int have been produced 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”, aiming to assist beneficiaries in South-East Europe to comply with the Council of Europe standards and the European Union acquis in the framework of the enlargement process, when relevant.

16 February 2021