Articles

Rights in prison in Europe and in Russia

With the support of the Eu-Russia Civil Society Forum Antigone and the Russian Ngo Man and Law developed the project “Rights in prison. EU-Russia Civil Society Forum and the defence of fundamental rights in the penitentiary system”.
On 6-8 July 2016, a working meeting of the team took place in Rome, Italy. Apart from the project partners - Alessio Scandurra from the "Antigone" Association (Rome) and Irina Protasova from the NGO "Man and Law" (Yoshkar-Ola), the events gathered representatives of the civilian oversight commissions from the Republic of Mari-Eland the Tomsk Region and the "For Civil Rights" Committee (Russia) as well as NGOs "A Buon Diritto" and "Forum Droghe" (Italy), and others.

On 6 July 2016, the Open Event "Civil Society in Russia and Italy. Share of Experiences and Cooperation Opportunities" was held.
Later on an Italian delegation travelled to Russia, but this time not everything went as planned. The representatives of three Italian human rights organisations - Antigone, Arcigay and A Buon Diritto - that were visiting the offices of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture in Nizhny Novgorod were detained by police for 10 hours and each fined 2,000 roubles for allegedly violating migration rules before being released. After the release the Italian embassy recommended the member of the Italian delegation to travel back to Italy as soon as possible.

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National monitoring bodies of prison conditions and the European standards

BM İşkence ve Diğer Zalimane, İnsanlık Dışı veya Aşağılayıcı Muamele veya Cezaya Karşı Opsiyonel Seçmeli Protokol (OPCAT)
OPCAT, insanların bağımsız uluslararası ve ulusal izleme organları tarafından özgürlüklerinden mahrum bırakıldığı tüm yerlere habersiz ziyaretler sistemi kurmaktadır. Bir Devlet OPCAT'ı onayladığında, ana Sohbet odaları yükümlülüğü, gözaltı yerlerine düzenli ziyaretler yapmak üzere bir Ulusal Önleyici Mekanizma (UÖM) oluşturmaktır. İlk defa, uluslararası bir antlaşma ulusal uygulamaya odaklanır ve işkence ve kötü muameleyi önlemek için belirli yetkilere sahip bir ulusal organ sağlar. UÖM'lerin, kişilerin özgürlüğünden yoksun bırakıldığı her türlü yeri düzenli olarak ziyaret etmesi zorunludur. Bu ziyaretler, özgürlükten yoksun bırakılan kişilerin korunmasını rapor etmeli ve iyileştirmelidir. UÖM'ler yasalar ve düzenlemeler hakkında yorum yapabilir ve önerilen reformları yapabilir. Her yıl
Dünyadaki devletlerin yarısı OPCAT tarafından teşvik edildi. Şubat 2014 itibariyle, 72 Devlet OPCAT’ı onaylamış ve 20 ülke ek olarak anlaşmayı imzalamıştır. Diğerleri onay için ulusal seviyeye başvurmuşlardır. (www.apt.ch/en/opcat) ... devamını oku

From national practices to European guidelines: interesting initiatives in prisons management

Marie Crétenot

The European Prison Observatory (EPO) was launched in Rome in February 2013 and operates in 8 countries (France, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Spain). Through quantitative and qualitative analysis, the EPO monitors and analyses the present conditions of the different national prison systems and the related systems of alternatives to detention in Europe, comparing these conditions to the international norms and standards relevant for the protections of inmates’ fundamental rights, particularly the European Prison Rules (EPR) of the Council of Europe.
The analysis of the conditions of detention in the countries where the EPO operates highlights the fact
that none of those countries are actually applying the Council of Europe’s philosophy, or are respecting many of its recommendations. However, this study revealed several interesting initiatives in accordance with the Council of Europe philosophy that could be an inspiration for other countries.
The most interesting ones are presented below in specific chapters: they represent experiments that have been implemented on a systemic basis and have been submitted to some sort of evaluation, and which can therefore be characterized as “good practices”. In some cases, the philosophy was not fully respected, but one or several countries had nevertheless developed measures or initiatives that still remain interesting and need to be highlighted. These countries’ specificities are pointed out in the general introduction of each chapter (with a mention of the country in bold)...read more

Detention conditions in the European Union

The main objective of the project is to discuss the problems of prison administration and develop prison management; sensitize penitentiary systems to human rights issues; suggesting mechanisms to monitor prison conditions effectively and ensure accountability in respect of violation of human rig hts. For that reasons the research wants to promote the collection of data on prisons in Europe. The project wants to study, through quantitative and qualitative analysis, the present condition of the national prison systems and the related systems of alternatives to detention in Europe, underlining their peculiarities and weakness.

The data collected through various research methodologies (quantitative and qualitative ) will be placed in relation with the minimum standards defined at European level (i.e. t he Recommendation (2006)2 ) and the guidelines about criminal treatment elaborated by the competent institutions. The research will contribute to the homogenization of data, the creation of a database and its constant updating. Moreover the possibility of monitoring the prison conditions will permit a constant control on the implementation of the European Recommendations, and it will be an useful instrument for the policy makers. The project, then, will proceed with the identification and dissemination of the 'good practices' existing in the different countries. In addition this research aim to the promotion of new forms of management and shared control of the prison systems, in order to improve the overall conditions of detention within the European Union, and to enforce the multilateral cooperation in the field of detention, not only between states but also between the different institutions, organizations and associations involved in the monitoring process. The consolidation of a European network to monitor the detention conditions will enhance the knowledge on each countries’ prisons systems.

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