A working group comprising prison staff trainers and medical staff of the Forensic Facility Sokolac is meeting in Sarajevo on 5-6 March 2018 to develop a set of safeguards and operational procedures to protect human rights of forensic patients who have committed criminal offences in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

Admission to a forensic facility, exercising control and restraint, developing individualised treatment plans, dispensing therapy and administering complains are only some of the recommendations issued by the European Committee for the prevention of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment (CPT) during its previous visit. 

This multi-professional working group will cross reference international standards and provisions in the local legislation in the process of interpretation of CPT recommendations and development of operational procedures for their application in daily management of criminal offenders with mental disturbances in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

This is the first multi-professional meeting in a series of activities to be implemented within the Joint European Union/Council of Europe Horizontal Facility for Western Balkans and Turkey and its specific Action in Bosnia and Herzegovina ''Enhancing human rights protection for detained and sentenced persons''. This capacity building exercise will conclude with training sessions and an expert assessment visit to record the progress made in staff's performance following this human-rights based training cycle.