News
PRI at the UN Human Rights Council’s 28th Regular Session (March 2015)
Next week will see the start of the 28th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council (2-27 March 2015 in Geneva). PRI will be participating on two key issues: the abolition of the death penalty and the human rights impact of overuse of imprisonment. We are co-hosting a side-event, ‘Strengthening death penalty standards’, with the Permanent Representations of Switzerland and Mexico. The […]
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PRI participates in expert consultation on children in detention with UN Special Rapporteur on Torture
On Tuesday this week, PRI took part in an Expert Consultation on Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty hosted by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Professor Juan Méndez, at the American University Washington College of Law in Washington DC. 30 experts attended the consultation to discuss legal standards, best practices, and an array of topics […]
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International experts gathered in Amman for today for start of PRI conference on criminal justice and human rights
PRI’s International Conference on ‘Criminal Justice Reform and Human Rights: Recent Trends’ opened today (3 November) in Amman under the patronage of His Majesty King Abdullah II Ibn Alhussein of Jordan. The two day conference is organised by Penal Reform International (MENA) in collaboration with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Public Security […]
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PRI at the UN General Assembly October 2014
Each year state delegates, UN representatives and civil society organisations gather during the UN General Assembly in New York. This year PRI will be co-hosting two side-events during the Third Committee at the 69th Session of the General Assembly in October 2014 to highlight two particular issues relating to criminal justice and penal policy – human rights of women in custody […]
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PRI calls on Human Rights Council to address prison overcrowding as a human rights issue
PRI is calling on the Human Rights Council and its bodies today to address as a human rights issue the overuse of imprisonment and the deplorable overcrowded conditions in prisons that it causes. Read this news article in Arabic / العربية In the Panel Discussion on Persons Deprived of their Liberty during this 27th Regular Session […]
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UN Committee makes recommendations to Georgia on women in prison
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has issued its Concluding observations on Georgia’s combined fourth and fifth periodic reports, examined in July 2014. Read the report here. Regarding women in detention, the Committee expressed concern at the lack of gender sensitive, accessible and evidence-based drug treatment programmes for women and recommended the provision of ‘gender sensitive and evidence […]
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An affront to human dignity: Grand Chamber of the European Human Rights Court on defendants held in metal cages
In a momentous judgment published yesterday on the case of Svinarenko and Slyadnev v. Russia, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights found that holding a person in a metal cage during trial constitutes in itself an ‘affront to human dignity’. The defendants, charged with a number of offences including robbery with […]
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Join us for a panel discussion on Human Rights of Women in Detention by live webcast
On Tuesday 17 June PRI is co-hosting a side-event, Human Rights of Women in Detention in conjunction with DIGNITY – Danish Institute against Torture, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Permanent Missions of Denmark and Chile. The event coincides with the Annual Day of Discussion on Women’s Rights at the 26th Session of the UN Human […]
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PRI at the Crime Commission 2014
Next week the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice will convene in Vienna (12-16 May). Held annually it is the principal policy-making body of the UN in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice and is therefore of key relevance to PRI’s mission. The Commission is the preparatory body for and implements […]
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Damage Limitation: An update from the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child
The 23rd Session of the African Committee on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) was held in mid-April in the African Union’s new and shiny headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Committee has a mandate to monitor the implementation of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child which has […]