The Executive Secretary of the Pompidou Group and the Project team in charge of the Criminal Justice and Health in Prison Programme participated on 11 December in the closing event of the project ‘EU and Council of Europe working together to support the Prison reform in Ukraine Plus – SPERU+’ managed by the Division on Cooperation in Police and Detention. The Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine, Ms Olena Vysotska, and senior representatives of the State Department of Execution of Criminal Sanctions of Ukraine attended this event and expressed Ukraine’s strong commitment to the ongoing cooperation activities with the Council of Europe’s Department of Police, Detention, Drugs and Addictions.

As an implementing partner of the SPERU+ project, the Pompidou Group was able to address Ukraine’s request for assistance in the roll-out of Opioid Agonist Treatment (OAT) in detention settings in Ukraine, prepare an expert analysis on human rights compliance of a draft law regarding alternatives to imprisonment and rehabilitation of people with substance use disorders, and assist national partners in their intention to assess the feasibility for an in-prison Therapeutic Community for treating addictions in Ukraine. The results of the accomplished work were positively evaluated by the Ukrainian delegation and the need for uninterrupted continuation of cooperation was emphasized.

In this connection, Denis Huber, in his double capacity as Head of the Police, Prisons, Drugs and Addictions Department and Executive Secretary of the Pompidou Group, was pleased to announce the launch of the new project DECOPRIS – ‘Towards More Humane Detention Conditions and Reduced Reoffending in Ukraine’ which will be implemented between 18 December 2023 and 17 December 2026. This project is the continuation of SPERU+ and will include a Pompidou Group component building on and further developing collaboration in the development of a comprehensive drug treatment system in prisons in Ukraine.