Enhancing the effectiveness of Civil Monitoring Boards in Türkiye in line with European Standards

The Civil Monitoring Boards (CMBs) have been actively involved in the external monitoring of the penitentiary system in the Republic of Türkiye through conducting on-site visits since 2001. The main task of CMBs is to conduct civil monitoring visits to the prisons and produce reports with binding recommendations for the Ministry of Justice. The deficiency of standards within the monitoring process, as well as the inadequate capacities and lack of training opportunities for the members, remained at unsatisfactory level for a long period of time.

The current “learning by doing” system should be replaced by an institutionalized training system. Therefore, there is an urgent need to work on the capacity building of the CMBs, as well as on increasing the quality of the whole process of the selection and training of its members in order to reach the European standards. Only a well-functioning external monitoring mechanism will contribute to a better penal system by decreasing the human rights breaches.

The Project was divided in 4 components:

Strengthening CMBs independence through revision of the applicable legal and regulatory framework in line with the international standards;
Enhancing CMBs efficiency by further developing their monitoring standards and working methodology and tools;
Ensuring sustainable training provision for the CMB members; and
Improving CMBs internal coordination and communication with other external monitoring mechanisms.

This Project was estimated to cover approximately 100 activities to be implemented by 31 May 2022, with an overall budget of 1,600,000 Euros.

Project documentation

Useful information

PROJECT NEWS

Back Cascade training sessions for civil monitoring boards in Türkiye finalised

@ Council of Europe

A total of 106 civil monitoring board (CMB) members coming from 62 different CMBs throughout Türkiye have benefitted from four cascade training sessions on prison monitoring, after the Training of Trainers that was organised in İstanbul earlier this year.

All phases of preparing and conducting effective prison monitoring in line with international standards were covered during the cascade sessions. The common feedback of the participants after this very interactive training programme was that their monitoring capacities have strengthened, specifically in relation to disciplinary procedures and healthcare provision in prisons. They also highlighted the importance of enhancing their communication skills and interview techniques. As a result, the CMBs are better equipped to liaise with prisoners and prison staff, to obtain accurate and reliable information with respect to prisoners’ rights and treatment, which will help them to produce tailored reports with specific recommendations.

“Before the training, the visits were focused mainly on implementation of provisions of the national legislation. After the training, the set of standards have broadened and now we can examine the prison practice through the lenses of the international and European standards,” “Although we are volunteers in monitoring the penitentiary system, after the training we have learnt that the prison monitoring should be carried out in a professional manner” were some of the impressions shared by the participants during the event.

The first cascade training was held between 3-6 September 2022 in Özyeğin University, the second one was organised between 26-28 September in Gaziantep University, the third one took place between 27-29 September in Kocaeli University while the last one was organised between 1-3 November 2022 in Ankara Judge House in cooperation with TOBB and Hacı Bayram Veli Universities. The training sessions were organised in close cooperation with the universities referred to above, with which in 2021 the Directorate General on Prisons and Detention Houses has signed Memorandum of Understanding on setting up regional training capacities, as part of the project activities, thus putting in place the preconditions for long-term sustainable training provision for the CMB members.

The pilot cascade sessions were implemented in the scope of the Project entitled “Enhancing the Effectiveness of the Civil Monitoring Boards in Turkey in line with the European Standards” funded by Sweden, Switzerland, the Republic of Türkiye, the Human Rights Trust Fund and Canada.

Türkiye 04 November 2022