At a glance 

The action will improve the protection of human rights of persons deprived of liberty by equipping the law enforcement, prison, and forensic staff with the knowledge, skills, and tools to prevent ill-treatment and impunity, and facilitate detainees' and inmates’ reintegration in the community upon release from custody through, among others, electronic exchange of information and enabling conditions for the preventive monitoring of custodial practices.

A wide range of local beneficiaries will directly participate in its implementation and will contribute with their substantial knowledge of the local legislation and good practices to the harmonisation of procedures with European standards and ultimately more fair and humane treatment of persons deprived of liberty. 

 Funding 

This action is implemented within the joint programme of the European Union and the Council of Europe “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye”

 Duration 

01 January 2023 - 31 December 2026

What are the goals and objectives of the action?

• Further improvement of the human rights record in policing work across the law-enforcement sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the safety and security balance in check;
• further enhancement of the process of resocialisation of forensic patients with specific needs such as women, geriatrics, and juveniles, and support for their safe return to their families and communities;
• further embedding of electronic exchange of prison-related data in practice in two entity jurisdictions, with a view to include all prisons;
• improved capacities of the National Preventive Mechanism function holders to monitor treatment of persons in the places of deprivation of liberty.

Who benefits from the action?

• Persons deprived of liberty across the custodial environment in Bosnia and Herzegovina whose human rights are prone to infringements and violations,
• custodial staff (prison, police, and forensic),
• ministries of justice, interior, and health in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
• social welfare centres in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
• Office of the Ombudsperson, etc.

How does the action work?

The action objectives will be achieved through

• co-ordination and consultation meetings, as well as drafting and training sessions,
• beneficiary-specific outreach, mostly of “peer to peer” nature, providing a platform for discussions, decision-making, and capacity building,
• publicising the standard-setting guides and training manuals,
• awareness-raising activities.

The action builds on the best practices and results of co-operation under previous two phases of the programme: “Enhancing human rights protection for detained and sentenced persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina” (2016 – 2019) and “Strengthening human rights treatment of detained persons based on European standards and best practices in Bosnia and Herzegovina” (2019 – 2022).

What do we expect to achieve?

This action aims to create the safeguarding mechanisms for the protection of basic human rights of persons deprived of liberty but also protection of the custodial staff from allegations of ill-treatment.

More specifically, the following achievements are expected:

• the internal training curricula in police agencies and forensic hospital is complemented with modules on human rights,
• electronic exchange of prison data in operation, enabling more transparent and efficient and accurate exchange of information between prisons and their competent ministries,
• prisoners and forensic patients better informed and equipped with knowledge and skills supporting their successful reintegration in the community upon release,
• existing and future staff of the Office of the Ombudsperson better equipped to perform the preventive monitoring function, and
• improved public safety due to the lower rate of recidivism and better exchange of information between various agencies during temporary release from custody.  

What is the budget of the action?

The total budget of the action is 1 450 000 EUR.

The budget allocated to the overall Horizontal Facility programme amounts to ca. 41 Million EUR (85% funded by the European Union, 15% by the Council of Europe).