Support to sustainable rehabilitation of violent extremist prisoners (VEPs)

On 1 May 2021 the Council of Europe initiated the implementation of an 8-months project entitled “Support to penitentiary system towards sustainable rehabilitation of violent extremist prisoners in Bosnia and Herzegovina”. The project was implemented in close cooperation with the three Ministries of Justice (Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Federation of BiH and Republika Srpska) and their respective partners from the entity and state penitentiary institutions.

The overall purpose of the project was to provide continued support to the authorities in BiH in their efforts to further build the capacities of the prison system and strengthen their skills with respect to managing violent extremist prisoners (VEPs).

The project had an overall budget of 200,000 EUR financed under the Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2018–2021 and has been completed by 31 December 2022.

Project documentation

Useful information

PROJECT NEWS

Back Working Group session on information collection and analysis with regards to radicalisation and violent extremism in prisons in BiH

@ Council of Europe

On 06-07 March 2023, the Council of Europe organised a 2-day working group (WG) session as part of ongoing efforts to support BiH institutions in addressing radicalisation and violent extremism in prisons. WG members include project partners coming from the Federal Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Justice of Republika Srpska and prison professionals from Mostar, Bijeljina, Banja Luka, Tuzla, Zenica and State prison.

As a result, a draft manual on information collection, analysis, and exchange was created, which will further facilitate inter-agency cooperation. Among other things, this manual reflects on the role and the importance of prison intelligence work and describes the criteria for the single point of contact. Future work under this component will ensure that every prison in BiH has the capacity to apply the content of this manual when working on preventing radicalisation or countering violent extremism within prisons in BiH.

The WG session was organized within the project "Ensuring Sustainable Penitentiary Actions in managing rehabilitation of violent extremist prisoners in Bosnia and Herzegovina (ESPA-VEP)", which is funded under the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025.

Bosnia and Herzegovina 08 March 2023