Start date: 1 January 2023

Duration: 24 months

Budget: EUR 500,000

Donor: The Council of Europe Action Plan for Armenia 2023-2026

Partners: Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia, Probation Service

Contact person: Mr Arman Poghosyan, Senior Project Officer

Building upon the results achieved from the implementation of the Project “Support the scaling-up of the probation service in Armenia”, the Project “Strengthening the Probation Service in Armenia” financed by Council of Europe Action Plan for Armenia 2023 – 2026 assists national authorities in facilitating the use of probation services in the country, thus enhancing community safety and the fair administration of justice.

It is implemented in close cooperation and partnership with the Ministry of Justice and State Probation Service, as well as other national stakeholders, including civil society organisations active in are of probation.

The Project will focus on accomplishing the following outcomes:

  • The knowledge and skills of probation officers on probation methods, risks and needs assessment tool and rehabilitation programmes are enhanced thanks to effective and sustainable training centres and regular staff evaluation;
  • The co-operation among all actors of the criminal justice system on the basis of a shared understanding of new Probation service functions and respective roles and responsibilities is enhanced;
  • The accessibility by offenders to effective rehabilitation/resocialisation programmes is enhanced;
  • E-probation system is further updated and supported to become operational.

The key documents for this Project are Recommendation CM/Rec(2010)1 on the Council of Europe Probation Rules, Recommendation CM/Rec(2017)3 on the European Rules on community sanctions and measures, Recommendation CM/Rec(2014)4 on electronic monitoring, Rec. R (2003) 22 concerning conditional release, as well as the findings and the recommendations of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) and the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).