On 22 September, a launching conference of the project was held with participation of all stakeholders in the field of prevention of torture and ill-treatment in Kosovo*. The conference is marked with a high-level participation of stakeholders and donor, in particular the Ombudsperson, Hilmi Jashari, the Director of Kosovo* Justice Academy, Enver Fejzullahu and Deputy Head of Mission of the Norwegian Embassy in Kosovo*, Jenny Stenberg Sørvold.
Head of Human Rights Policy and Co-operation Department of the Council of Europe, Mikhail Lobov and Head of Pristina Office, Frank Power reiterated in their opening remarks the importance of the fight against torture and ill-treatment and also referred to the achievements of the previous co-operation projects with Council of Europe.
The presentation of the President of European Committee for Prevention of Torture (CPT) Mykola Gnatovskyy and former judge of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in respect of Albania, Ledi Bianku contributed towards better understanding of international standards imposed by the ECtHR and CPT in relation to effective investigation, documenting and reporting medical evidence related to ill-treatment allegations. The representative of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM), Niman Hajdari and the Chief Investigator of the Kosovo Police Inspectorate, Burim Raci gave perspective of the challenges that national institutions are facing to better cooperate, improve conditions of persons deprived of liberty and secure better investigation of ill treatment.
The project “Strengthening the Kosovo* Institutions in fight against Torture, Ill-treatment and Other Degrading Treatment” is funded by the Norwegian government and implemented by the Council of Europe (1 July 2020 until 31 December 2021). Its overall objective is to contribute into the improvement of the rights and freedom of persons deprived of liberty and to support authorities in effective investigations for allegations of torture and ill treatment.
