Improvement of the treatment of persons deprived of liberty in Kosovo*

The Council of Europe is implementing a Project on the “Improvement of the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty” with a duration of 48 months (October 2022 – September 2026), co-funded through voluntary contributions of Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Norway, and the Council of Europe. The Project has an overall budget of 1.150.000 EUR.

The Project will focus on supporting reform initiatives to consolidate the already achieved results within the framework of the 2016-2018 Horizontal Facility action “Enhancing the protection of human rights of prisoners in Kosovo*”, and expand the work to enable favorable conditions for treatment and healthcare provided to persons deprived of liberty compliant with the Council of Europe standards.

The Project’s target groups are healthcare professionals and other categories of staff in prisons and other closed institutions, whilst the end beneficiaries are prisoners in need of medical attention, forensic institute patients, and persons with mental and physical disabilities accommodated in special social welfare institutions.

The Project aim will be accomplished through the following measures:

strengthening co-operation and increasing consistency and co-ordination of approaches of all relevant stakeholders so as to improve the health care provided to all persons who are de facto, and de jure deprived of their liberty, including convicted persons, patients involuntarily committed to psychiatric hospitalization and persons with mental disabilities placed in social welfare institutions;
further enhancing the professional performance of the Prison Healthcare Department within the Ministry of Health through capacity-building measures, by establishing relevant protocols and strengthening safeguards against ill-treatment;
reviewing legislation and policies regulating involuntary psychiatric hospitalization in light of Council of Europe standards and assessing and revising procedures and information provided to patients on their rights; and,
strengthening the protection of the human rights of detained patients with mental disabilities and facilitating their rehabilitation and reintegration into society.

By achieving the above-mentioned objectives, the project will further enhance the knowledge and skills of medical and non-medical staff in prisons, other closed institutions, and relevant stakeholders, to strengthen the safeguards against ill-treatment in line with Council of Europe standards and the CPT recommendations. It will develop an efficient working methodology and encourage sustainable co-operation, with an overall aim to ensure the protection of the human rights of persons deprived of their liberty, with focus on convicted persons and patients with mental disabilities.

* All reference to Kosovo, whether to the territory, institutions or population, in this text shall be understood in full compliance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 and without prejudice to the status of Kosovo

Project documentation

Useful information

PROJECT NEWS

Back Council of Europe assists Kosovo* institutions in developing protocols on reporting ill-treatment in prisons and other closed institutions

@ Council of Europe

Accurate reporting of ill-treatment in prisons and other closed institutions and its effective investigation, including evaluating the medical evidence, is of utmost importance for preventing and tackling this phenomenon and improving the treatment of prisoners and persons held in other closed institutions.

Therefore, a workshop was organized on 14 June 2024 in Pristina, to discuss with the project partners and beneficiaries the needs vis-à-vis the development of protocols on documenting and reporting ill-treatment in line with the Istanbul protocol, followed by a three-day working group (WG) meeting on 18-20 June 2024 in Istok.

Representatives of the Prison Health Department of Kosovo, Kosovo Correctional Services, Institute for Forensic Psychiatry, Special Institute for Persons with Physical and Mental Disabilities, National Preventive Mechanism of the Ombudsperson Institution of Kosovo, civil society and the prison inspectorate attended the WG meeting, co-facilitated by Council of Europe international and local consultants.

The event was characterized by a team spirit and collegial approach, where after three days of intensive work a protocol for reporting of ill-treatment and relevant tools, namely the Incident Report and the Checklist of injuries in prisons and other closed institutions, were developed in line with the requirements of the Istanbul protocol, thus marking a significant development towards improvement of the treatment of prisoners and persons held in other closed institutions in Kosovo in line with the Council of Europe standards and European best practices.

The documents were developed in a way that enables all institutions in question to use them equally effectively, whilst taking into consideration their institutional specifics.

The working group meeting was organized under the auspices of the Council of Europe project “Improvement of the treatment of persons deprived of liberty”.

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* All references to Kosovo, whether to the territory, institutions, or population, in this text shall be understood in full compliance with United National Security Council Resolution 1244 and without prejudice to the status of Kosovo.

Pristina, Kosovo* 14 June 2024