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Back The Council of Europe supports authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) to finalise the tools and programme for violent extremist prisoners

The Council of Europe supports authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) to finalise the tools and programme for violent extremist prisoners

The Council of Europe, in close cooperation with the three Ministries of Justice in BiH and their respective partners from entity and state penitentiaries, organized the final meeting of the Working Group on reviewing and finalising the tools and programme for rehabilitation of violent and extreme prisoners (VEPs).

The participants got acquainted with the activities carried out within the project and the results of the piloting of the tools in few prisons in BiH. Based on the presented analysis, the participants mapped the institutional activities necessary for further improvement of the application of the VEP tools and programme and identified specific areas that would enhance VEPs rehabilitation. It was concluded that the piloting phase has reinforced the acquired knowledge and skills among prison staff, which will enable their sustainable application in practice, and will further facilitate effective coping with the serious challenges of radicalisation in the prison environment.

The meeting was attended by the Assistant Ministers of Justice of the Federation of BiH and Republika Srpska for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions, the manager of the State Prison, directors of penitentiaries Zenica, Bijeljina and Tuzla, as well as members of multidisciplinary prison teams who continuously participated in the piloting program of specific tools and programmes for rehabilitation of violent and extremist prisoners.

The meeting was held on 14 October, 2021 in Jahorina, organized within the project "Support to the penitentiary system towards sustainable rehabilitation of violent extremist prisoners in Bosnia and Herzegovina", funded by the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2018–2021.

Jahorina 14 October 2021
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project brief

On 01 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 is 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 is 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). It will also ensure sustainability of the actions undertaken towards efficient reintegration of VEPs back in the community.

The previous Council of Europe projects[1] set the foundations and preconditions for structured case management of VEPs and inter-agency cooperation. The future key actions, supported under this proposal, will be focused on enhancement of the prison staff skills related to the multi-disciplinary approach in ensuring VEPs rehabilitation and preparation for release. This project will also aim to establish virtual education and training proficiency center, which will bring together the existing expertise and resources in order to sustain knowledge and skills attained in management of VEPs.

The main expected results of the project are:

  1. Enhancement of the unified application of the VEP-specific tools throughout the penitentiary systems in BiH, and
  2. Establishment of the BiH Penitentiary virtual Center of Excellence for preventing and countering violent extremism in prisons in a form of collaboration platform 

The project has an overall budget of 200,000 EUR and is financed under the Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2018–2021. 

 

[1] Voluntary contribution "Structured sentence management for violent and extremist prisoners", funded by UK Embassy and USAID (2018-2021) and “Supporting reintegration of violent and extremist prisoners in Bosnia and Herzegovina” , and voluntary contribution of the Government of the United Kingdom through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (2017-2018)