HF II Serbia - Strenghtening Human Rights treatment of detained persons

As a 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 (Horizontal Facility), the Council of Europe has implemented, as one of the Actions in Serbia, the Action Enhancing human rights protection for detained and sentenced persons - Phase II, in close partnership with the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, NPM/Ombudsperson Office, Office for Human and Minority Rights and Serbian European Integration Office. The Action was also including a wide spectrum of other national stakeholders, as well as civil society organizations active in the field of protection and promotion of human rights.

The Action focused on the safeguards against ill-treatment of arrested and detained persons, the human rights protection of prisoners through improved policy and reintegration measures, as well as human rights protection of persons with mental disabilities detained in psychiatric or social care institutions.

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). These commitments are part of the Serbia's EU accession negotiations and accomplishment of goals defined in strategic documents and in particular Chapters 23 and 24.

The Action, which started on 24 May 2019 and was completed on 31 December 2022, had an overall budget of 900,000 euros.

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Back Selected prison staff in Kosovo* and Serbia trained to make structured professional judgement when assessing violent extremist prisoners

@ Council of Europe

What behavioural indicators could indicate presence of radicalisation? What factors are relevant and carry weight of assessment of a risk level a prisoner may pose? How to translate knowledge and information gathered and determine priority individual rehabilitation and treatment needs of a violent extremist prisoner (VEP)? – were only some of the topics addressed in seven (7) cascade training sessions for prison staff in Kosovo and Serbia.

More than 170 selected participants, coming from management, security and treatment sectors from more than 30 prison facilities in the two Beneficiaries, increased their knowledge on evidence-based methodology in screening and conducing risk and needs assessment of VEPs. They also discussed potential obstacles prison staff may face when this methodology becomes standardised operational procedure in working with VEPs and prisoners at risk from radicalisation across all detention facilities.

The training sessions were facilitated by the prison staff who took part in piloting of the VEP-specific tools and programme in Kosovo and Serbia. The trainers also shared with their peers the challenges they encountered during the pilot phase, allowing them to exercise the application of the tools through simulations on case studies.

The cascade sessions were organised under the Beneficiary-specific components of the regional action “Enhancing penitentiary capacities in addressing radicalisation in prisons in the Western Balkans”, implemented within the joint European Union and the Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022″.

* 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.

Kosovo and Serbia 22 June 2022