A delegation from North Macedonia, consisting of medical personnel working in penitentiary institutions, senior officials of the Ministry of Health, as well as the Acting Head and key representatives of the Directorate for the Execution of Sanctions (DES), visited Kosovo on 3-4 April 2025.
The visit focused on the inter-institutional co-ordination between the main stakeholders responsible for the penitentiary system and the provision of healthcare – the Kosovo Correctional Service, as well as the Prison Health Services under the Ministry of Health. The visited institutions shared their experience in building the structural organisation, setting the regulatory framework and operations. The lessons learned were considered valuable by the Acting Head of North Macedonia’s Directorate for the Execution of Sanctions, Mr Aleksandar Pandov, as well as the State Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Mr Besim Memeti. Recruiting policies for the medical personnel in prisons, as well as the co-ordination mechanism were on the focus of the conversations.
The practical dimensions of the penitentiary healthcare were demonstrated during the visit to the High Security Prison, and Dubrava Prison. The doctor in the visiting delegation had an opportunity to see the procedures in place, while the hosts demonstrated their readiness to reciprocate with a returning visit.
This study visit is the second such activity organised in the past three years, aimed at enhancing the inter-departmental co-ordination in North Macedonia, by learning from other experiences in the region which would help establish a mechanism that provides better healthcare for the sentenced persons.
This activity was conducted in the framework of the joint European Union and Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye” and its action “Strengthening the capacities of the penitentiary system in North Macedonia”.
*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence
