SPERU - Further Support to the Penitentiary Reform in Ukraine

This project was co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe in co-operation with the main partners, namely the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the State Executive Service and its interregional branches, the Parliamentary Assembly, the Supreme Court of Ukraine, the General Prosecutor Office, the Ombudsmen Office and Civil Society organisations and other relevant national stakeholders interested in penitentiary reform in Ukraine.

Thanks to this project, Ukrainian authorities have been assisted in the promotion of Human rights in the management of prisons as well as in the further development of a rehabilitative approach to offenders in line with the Council of Europe standards, in particular those of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture an Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), and taking into account the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights.

The Joint Programme (JP) SPERU achieved the following outcomes:

enhancement of Justice system actors’ awareness to proceed with the penitentiary reform based on the Council of Europe standards
partnerships between the justice system, community services and civil society are facilitated to enhance resocialization and reintegration of prisoners
justice system capacity is enhanced to develop and implement healthcare strategy in prisons

Further support to the reforms in the field of prison and the protection of prisoners’ rights is part of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2018-2021.

The project implementation started in July 2019 and ended bewteen October 2021 and April 2022.

Project documentation

Useful information

PROJECT NEWS

Back 2017 Guidelines for the Prevention of Suicidal Behaviour Updated

@ Council of Europe

The 2017 Ukrainian Guidelines and the Strategy for the Prevention of Suicidal Behaviour were updated to provide modern and in line with European standards methods to ensure effective monitoring and prevention of suicide and self-harm.

On 18 June 2020, the updated Guidelines and Strategy were presented to the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the Criminal Executive Directorate, the state institutions “Probation in Ukraine”, “Health Protection Centre” and Bila Tserkva Penitentiary Staff Training Centre. The participants agreed to start the implementation of the updated Guidelines and Strategy in pilot penitentiary institutions, to train prison staff on multidisciplinary skills to prevent suicidal behaviour and to provide expert assistance to the MoJ to transform the Guidelines into a regulatory act.

The activity was conducted in the framework of the Joint Project "European Union and Council of Europe working together to support prison reform in Ukraine" (JP SPERU), which is designed to promote human rights compliant prison management, including better alignment of prison healthcare provisions with European standards.

Ukraine 22 June 2020