On 5 November, the closing conference for the Project “Capacity Building of the Law Enforcement Agencies for Appropriate Treatment of Detained and Sentenced Persons”, funded by the EU and implemented by the Council of Europe, was organised in Skopje, with participation of:

• Mr Adnan Jashari, Minister of Justice
• Mr Toni Stankovski, Assistant Director of the Public Safety Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs
• Mr Martin Klaucke, Head of Cooperation, Delegation of the European Union
• Mr Donche Boshkovski, Programme manager, Criminal Law Cooperation Unit, Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law, Council of Europe

This EU-funded project focused on two major components, notably on the penitentiary system and the police service. With respect to the prison system, the project focused on strengthening the organizational and management capacity of the penitentiary in the country for ensuring full protection of human rights in the treatment of detained and sentenced persons. With regard to police services, the project focused on developing capacities for strengthening of professionalism in guaranteeing full observance of fundamental rights of the persons held in police custody, through an efficient and reliable regulatory and operational framework.

More than 120 participants, including representatives from the beneficiaries, government officials, ambassadors, international organizations, the Ombudsman office, NGO sector, academics, judges, and prosecutors were present at the event, followed with excellent media coverage.