Successful conclusion of experts’ roundtable on reducing overincarceration and overcrowding in detention and prison facilities

Amman, Jordan, October 2024 — Under the patronage of His Excellency Major General AbeidAllah Maaitah, Director of the Public Security Department in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and PRI organised an expert roundtable on the United Nations System Common Position on Incarceration: Reducing Overincarceration and Overcrowding in Detention and Prison Facilities. 

The roundtable, held on the 1st and 2nd October 2024, in Amman, Jordan, brought together a diverse group of experts in prison and correctional reform, judges and representatives from public administrations managing prisons across the Middle East and North Africa. Participants included national human rights institutions, parliamentarians and civil society organisations. 

The roundtable addressed practical measures aligned with the United Nations’ unified position on imprisonment, strategies for reducing pretrial detention, managing detention during trials and addressing post-sentence detention. Experts from each country presented national experiences and the procedures being implemented to reduce overcrowding in their detention and prison facilities. 

A major highlight of the event was the collaborative role of national human rights institutions in working alongside prison administrations to alleviate the effects of overcrowding and ensure the protection of rights for people in prison.

The roundtable concluded with the formulation of a comprehensive set of recommendations and actionable proposals, aimed at advancing the implementation of the United Nations’ common position on incarceration across the region.