PRI’s Executive Director, Alison Hannah, reports from a meeting in Thailand last week on the implementation of the Bangkok Rules in East Asia and the Pacific, where participants heard about a range of promising rehabilitative initiatives, as well as exchanging information and views on the many similar challenges women in conflict with the law face […]
1st March 2013
From mobile courts to review remand cases to using traditional community courts to deal with minor offences, African countries are finding innovative ways to help solve the problem of prison overcrowding. PRI’s Nikhil Roy and Becky Randel select 10 examples of good practice which emerged from a PRI training course in Mozambique last week. On […]
25th February 2013
With the 22nd session of the Human Rights Council starting in Geneva today, the importance of protecting the valuable role of NGOs in international policy-making and ensuring the safety of human rights defenders is receiving a lot of attention. PRI’s programme officer, Olivia Rope, who made her first advocacy trip for PRI to Geneva last week, […]
25th February 2013
PRI’s Policy Director, Andrea Huber and Programme Officer, Olivia Rope, report from the half-day of discussion of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination of Women (CEDAW) on women’s access to justice. PRI’s activities at the United Nations this year kicked off with the half-day of discussion of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination of Women […]
18th February 2013
Gary Westwater is an expert social worker with more than 40 years of experience in social work and has worked with international organisations such as UNICEF, UNDP, the Council of Europe, the European Commission and NGOs on the development and management of practical child protection strategies, the supervision of children at risk, formulating and reviewing […]
8th February 2013
“Taking the opinions of children under 10 into account in civil court proceedings needs to be implemented even though this measure is not provided for in the country’s legislation….”. This sentiment expressed by a civil court Judge, towards the end of my six very interesting and busy days in Tashkent (7 – 12 January), provides […]
14th January 2013
Eight years in the making, the UN Principles and Guidelines on Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems were formally adopted by the UN General Assembly on 20 December. PRI’s Executive Director reflects on their importance and on the task of implementation that lies ahead. PRI has been involved throughout the process. 2012 ended on a positive note with the news that […]
3rd January 2013
Becky Randel reports from the Reentry Court at Harlem Community Justice Center where participants are re-convicted at a rate that is 19% lower than a comparison group on standard parole. During a recent visit to New York I had the opportunity to visit the Harlem Community Justice Center, run by the Center for Court Innovation. Housed in […]
15th December 2012
Promising progress is being made towards the greater user of community service orders in Uganda, but some challenges remain. PRI consultant Rob Allen reports from a recent PRI training course for magistrates in Mbarara in the west of the country. Mbarara in Western Uganda was the venue this week for the latest in a series […]
1st December 2012
In many nations of the world, prisons are used in large part for what was their original purpose – not as a punishment or correctional measure but to hold suspects and defendants until they can be tried in court. In more than fifty countries, the majority of people in prison on any one day are […]
30th November 2012