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 Rehabilitation Programme for Violent Extremist and Radicalised Prisoners (VEPs) in Kosovo* developed

The working group (WG) on the development of rehabilitation tools and programme for VEPs in Kosovo continued its work towards the finalisation of the methodology for the Rehabilitation Programme for VEPs and its user’s guide. The session took place on 10 November 2020 as online meeting, facilitated by one CoE international consultant.

The participants discussed the draft rehabilitation programme, provided their feedback, further exchanged views on interconnectivity and complementarity of the VEP-specific tools with the new rehabilitation programme. They also addressed the preconditions for the piloting phase of the tools in two selected prisons in Kosovo and for their long-term application in practice. As a result, and in light of additional written input to be received from the WG members, the consultant will finalise the VEP-specific rehabilitation programme by the end of the year.

The WG is composed of staff of the Kosovo Corrections Service with different background and coming from various prisons and representatives from the Kosovo Probation Service.

This activity was organized within the scope of the Regional Action “Enhancing penitentiary capacities in addressing radicalisation in prisons in the Western Balkans” co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe within the “Horizontal Facility for Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022” and implemented by the Council of Europe.

* 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.

10 November 2020