The main partners were: Ministries of Justice, Offices of the Prosecutors General, Ministries of Interior, Academies of Justice, Prosecutors’ Training Centres, Police Academies, penitentiary services, supervisory, investigative and complaints handling structures, executive, judicial and legislative institutions, Ombudsman institutions, Bar Associations, OPCAT bodies, NGOs.

 The target groups included prosecutors, law enforcement officials, staff of supervisory, investigative and complaints handling structures, judges, lawyers, high level representatives and legal staff of executive and legislative institutions, legal staff of Ombudsman institutions, OPCAT bodies and NGOs.

The main objectives were to develop national capacities for combating ill-treatment by law enforcement agencies and investigative institutions, including strengthening the effectiveness of investigations of allegations of ill-treatment.

The Project was a follow-up to the regional EU/CoE Joint Programme on Combatting ill-treatment (2009-2011). The main achievements regarding the prevention and the fight against ill-treatment in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, to which the Project had a direct contribution, were related to:

• The policy of zero tolerance towards ill-treatment has officially been declared as a priority of all the concerned national governments, highlighted in the addresses of the high level public officials and systematically introduced in the strategic documents of the partner countries;
• Material and procedural legislation of the partner countries has been amended and supplemented with important provisions drawn up as a response to the 2009 and 2012 Country Reports and Council of Europe experts’ recommendations on combating ill-treatment.
• The institutional/operational systems for preventing and effectively investigating complaints of ill-treatment, leading to imposition of sanctions when appropriate, were brought in a better conformity with European and international standards.
• At least 2700 representatives of the relevant institutions, including judges, prosecutors, lawyers, police and penitentiary officials, legal staff of Ombudsperson institutions, OPCAT bodies and NGOs, decision-makers of the executive and legislative branches, have been ensured a better access to European and international standards for preventing and combating ill-treatment and enabled to fulfill their responsibilities in accordance with these standards;
• Regional co-operation and synergy between the partner countries has been enhanced.