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 Well trained prison and probation staff are precondition to successful disengagement and reintegration of violent extremist offenders (VEOs)

@ Council of Europe

The second regional Working Group session on „Capacity building and training of prison and probation staff on addressing radicalisation and violent extremism“ discussed the needs and strengths of the current training and education curricula applied in practice in all 6 Beneficiaries in the Western Balkans region. This online event, which took place on 06-07 July 2020, further explored plethora of resources that can be used to enhance staff management and training approaches in dealing with VEOs.

Major recommendations stemming from the session speak in favour of ensuring continuous training process and highlighted the necessity of introducing basic awareness raising sessions on radicalisation and identification techniques for all staff. Specialised training for front-liners and setting up multi-disciplinary teams is one of the main preconditions towards effective VEOs’ rehabilitation, while joint prison and probation training sessions, where possible, are much needed to ensure harmonised approaches and multi-agency cooperation. The recommendations will be used in the process of shaping the common capacity-development and training framework matrix, applicable in all Horizonal Facility Beneficiaries.

This activity was facilitated by two Council of Europe consultants and was organized within the scope of the Regional Action “Enhancing penitentiary capacities in addressing radicalisation in prisons in the Western Balkans” that is 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.

6-7 July 2020