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

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Back Healthcare professionals from Kosovo* explore Finnish best practices on occupational therapy for prisoners with mental disorders

@ Council of Europe

On 3-5 October, a six-member delegation from Prison Healthcare Department (PHD), Kosovo's Ministry of Health visited the Finnish Prison System.

Over the 3-day visit, PHD healthcare professionals delved into Finland's prison healthcare system renowned for rehabilitation of offenders, gaining insights into overall operations and especially into mental healthcare. The delegation had the opportunity to visit the penitentiary headquarters, a psychiatric hospital in Turku, health care services for prisoners and a psychiatric hospital in Vantaa, as well as the Kerava open prison. The openness and expertise of the Finnish counterparts greatly enriched this educational experience.

The focus of this visit was on Finland's occupational therapy programmes for prisoners with mental disorders. The goal was to learn best practices, adapt them into PHD’s daily work, and integrate these insights into occupational therapy guidelines that are currently being developed with supported by the Project.

The study visit also incorporated broader learnings from Finnish counterparts on prison healthcare, mental health, and rehabilitation. These insights will be integrated into PHD’s Standard Operating Procedures, currently under revision with the Project's support, with their impact assessed in a later project phase.

The study visit has been implemented as part of the of the Council of Europe Project “Improvement of the treatment of persons deprived of liberty” co-funded through voluntary contributions of Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Norway, and the Council of Europe.

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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.

Kosovo* 09 October 2023