The European National Preventive Mechanisms (NPM) Forum is a platform for exchange aimed at bringing together European NPMs and assisting them in carrying out their mandate effectively and independently through discussing different matters relating to deprivation of liberty and exchanging best practices, lessons learnt and common challenges.

The Forum’s objective is to contribute to steadily harmonising standards of detention in all places of deprivation of liberty, improving the effectiveness of monitoring methodologies and, in the long run, enhancing detention conditions in the CoE region and other interested countries through independent and objective monitoring and combined action at national, regional and international level, including through enhanced judicial cooperation within the European Union (EU).

The European NPM Forum, established in 2016, continuously facilitates the regular exchange aiming at developing NPMs’ capacity and methodology to carry out their mandates effectively and independently through discussing different matters relating to deprivation of liberty and exchanging best practices, lessons learnt and common challenges.

The objective is to contribute to the monitoring by regular objective inspections and gradual improvement of detention conditions (both in the pre- and the post-trial stage) in the CoE Member states and beyond, with a particular focus on EU Member States. This involves reliance on common criteria and methods for monitoring as well as the development of a common understanding of the precise requirements (standards) that govern the treatment of detained persons in the EU, the Council of Europe region, and beyond.

• Holding annual hybrid conferences of eligible EU NPMs, with the participation and contribution of relevant international and civil society experts and stakeholders operating in the field, including the CPT.
• Holding of hybrid thematic capacity-building workshops of eligible EU NPMs and beyond.
• Regular update of the Forum webpage with relevant information on recent developments in the area of ill-treatment and torture prevention.

NPMs in EU member States, non-EU member states, as well as non-Council of Europe members states, notably countries in the MENA region (Morocco and Tunisia).

The current phase of the European NPM Forum is implemented within the framework of the Project “Support to Council of Europe for EU network of prison monitoring bodies” (hereinafter – Project), co-funded by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Justice and Consumers (DG Justice) and the Council of Europe and implemented by the latter.

Duration: July 2023-July 2025

In addition to the main operation of the Forum, the following specific activities are planned under the Project:

• Carrying out targeted support activities, including:
  • dissemination and promotion of the European Commission Recommendation on the procedural rights of suspects and accused persons subject to pre-trial detention and on material detention conditions inter alia via judicial and NPMs’ training on HELP Platform;
  • development of new information tools on relevant standards and the availability of information on detention conditions in the EU.
• Development of a practical guide on the European Commission Recommendation.
• Contribution to the development of the Prison Life Index (PLI), which provides information on detention conditions worldwide.
• Depending on sufficient funding, supporting the conduct of a study visit of one eligible EU NPM to a peer EU NPMs.

The operation of the European NPM Forum in the past was supported through a series of other projects/phases:

• European NPM Forum (Phase I), 01/10/2016 – 31/03/2018)
• Development of a more elaborate SPACE (Statistiques Pénales Annuelles du Conseil de l'Europe) report and EU network of prison monitoring bodies (Phase II), 01/04/2018 – 30/09/2019
• SPACE reports and European NPM Forum (Phase III), 01/04/2018 – 30/09/2019
• SPACE reports and European NPM Forum (Phase IV), 01/03/2022 – 28/02/2023