Probation and alternative sanctions in Montenegro and Serbia

Montenegro and Serbia: ongoing

This project aims to enforce the judiciary and the rule of law in Serbia and Montenegro, by stimulating and supporting the probation service and the system of alternative sanctions.

Project leader:

Netherlands Helsinki Committee (NHC)

Implementing partners:

["CILC","Belgrade Center for Human Rights (BCHR)<\/a>","Civic Alliance (CA)<\/a>","Juventas<\/a>","Neostart<\/a>"]

Donor:

NL Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Donor programme:

MATRA programme

Type of project:

Grant

Project status:

Ongoing

Start: 01-10-2017

Elapsed 90% 90%

End: 31-12-2020

Total Budget: € 1.547.376

Project lifetime: 40 months

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Project description

This project has been jointly developed by CILC and the Netherlands Helsinki Committee (NHC).

Its intended long term impacts comprise a viable decrease of overcrowding in correctional institutions through a more proper use of alternatives to imprisonment, as well as a decrease of recidivism, as a result of more efficient pre- and post-penal supervision and active support towards successful reintegration.

The focus in further developing the Serbian and Montenegrin Probation services will contribute to strengthening the capacities as outlined in the norms of the European Probation Rules. Currently, the Probation services of Montenegro and Serbia have limited time for supervising conditional sentences and conditional release, and for implementing community service sentences. More specifically, the project’s overall objective is to contribute to an effective and proficient functioning of the criminal justice sector in Montenegro and Serbia, where the main actors in the judicial chain – probation, penitentiary, prosecutors and judges – cooperate with each other and with civil society organisations (CSO’s). This is closely linked to the objectives of the MATRA 2017-2020 framework of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (which aims to strengthen the rule of law), and it is also in line with the Copenhagen Criteria.

The project applies capacity building by Dutch (semi-)government institutions, including the Probation Service, the Council for the Judiciary and the Dutch Prosecution Service. Furthermore, the project intends to make use of regional expertise (e.g. from Croatia, Romania and/or other countries), which is coherent with the EU strategy for fostering good neighbourhood relations, as well as peer-to-peer learning exchanges between both target countries, on operational and higher political levels. Advice and expertise will also be provided by experts of the Confederation of European Probation (CEP), the project team at CILC and NHC, and by local CSOs.