On 19 October, PRI will be co-hosting a side-event on the Implementation of the revised UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners – the Mandela Rules at the 70th session of the UN General Assembly currently underway in New York. After four years of negotiations, the revised Rules have been put forward for […]
On Tuesday 29 September 2015, PRI, the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) and the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) are hosting an informal consultation meeting for NGOs to discuss the UN General Assembly Special Session on drugs (UNGASS) in April 2016 and to gather civil society views on drugs and criminal justice and alternatives to […]
From 2-4 September, PRI in Central Asia held the Central Asian Dialogue on prevention of violence against children and the rights of children in difficult circumstances. While numbers are falling, some 30,000 children are estimated to be held in closed institutions across Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Research by PRI carried out in late 2014 found […]
In late August, 16 members and staff of National Preventative Mechanisms (NPMs) from 13 countries gathered for a summer school in Bristol, UK, on preventing torture and ill-treatment through gender-sensitive monitoring. Organised by PRI and the University of Bristol, in partnership with the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT), the four day summer school […]
PRI is delighted to have received a grant from the Thailand Institute of Justice (TIJ) to work with the Kenya Probation Service to study and develop gender-sensitive community and probation orders in Kenya. The UN Bangkok Rules, universal international standards adopted for women offenders in 2010, call for prioritisation of ‘gender-sensitive non-custodial measures’, recognising the […]
In April, 18 staff from the Kenyan Probation and After Care Service and two senior officials from the Prison Department took part in a three-day PRI training on women offenders and the UN Bangkok Rules in Nakuru, Kenya. The staff came from a number of districts in Kenya and the training was intended to provide […]
Last week at the 29th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council in June, PRI co-organised a side-event together with Transparency International, which was co-sponsored by two member states of the core group, Morocco and Austria. Focus was given to the particular impact of corruption on the rights of detainees, and panellists discussed how […]
In May, the National Preventive Mechanism of Kazakhstan and the Ombudsman’s Office launched their consolidated annual report for 2014. The NPM was established in law in July 2013 and started carrying out monitoring visits in Spring 2014. The launch meeting was attended by Arman Danielyan, member of the UN Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture […]
In both Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, PRI is working with the governments and prison authorities to improve rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners, with a focus on providing more marketable employment opportunities in prison. In Kazakhstan, the President has identified the rule of law as a priority area. Improving the resocialisation of prisoners and creating employment in […]
From 27-29 May, PRI Central Asia held a three-day training workshop in Tajikistan for staff of closed facilities for children on tackling violence against children. The workshop was led by the Vice President of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Renate Winter, together with international experts from Serbia and Kyrgyzstan and local experts. […]