PRI staff and Board welcome the news that Dr Medani, for many years a PRI Board Member and distinguished Sudanese human rights lawyer and advocate, was released from prison on 9 April and the case against him dropped. Dr Amin Mekki Medani and two fellow human rights defenders, Farouq Abu Eissa and Dr Farah Ibrahim […]
‘Female offenders require a multidimensional gender specific approach that addresses the problems that form the context for women’s criminal behaviour’, advocated Ms Josephta Mukobe, Principal Secretary for the Kenyan State Department of Coordination of National Government, in an opening address, read on her behalf by the Director of Administration in the State Department, at the […]
PRI is delighted to be attending the 13th UN Crime Congress in Doha, Qatar from 12-19 April. We are participating in official Workshop A and hosting and taking part in a number of panels. We have a stand in the exhibition halls where you can pick up our publications and watch our short animated film […]
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 […]
Next week, PRI will participate in the first ever World Congress on Juvenile Justice taking place in Geneva. This week-long event aims to become a milestone in the implementation of international norms relating to children in conflict with law and children who are victims, survivors or witnesses. The Congress, hosted by the Swiss Federal Department […]
On 12 December, PRI’s Central Asia office held its 2nd Prison Forum. The event was hosted by the General Prosecutor’s Office and supported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Republic of Kazakhstan, the British Embassy and the OSCE Centre in Astana. The 1st Prison Forum in December 2013 was the first national event on a […]
Penal Reform International (PRI) is shocked to learn of the arbitrary arrest and detention of Dr Amin Mekki Medani on the evening of 6 December by the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS). Dr Medani served 10 years on the board of PRI from 2004 until earlier this year. Dr Medani, a distinguished human […]
The four year project starting in December 2014 will aim to reform the penitentiary system in line with international human rights; develop the capacity of civil society groups to initiate projects to support people in the criminal justice system and to protect the rights of prisoners; and implement alternative sanctions and diversion mechanisms at community […]
Use of life and long-term sentences has been growing globally. In 2012, of the 2.3 million prisoners in US prisons, 159,520 were serving life sentences, including almost 50,000 life without parole. Nancy Mullane was a winner in PRI’s journalism competition held as part of our death penalty abolition programme in 2014. While the competition was judged on the basis […]
Uganda has ended its opposition to a global moratorium on the use of the death penalty. At the UN General Assembly on 21 November 2014, Uganda abstained on the measure, changing after seven years of voting against. The country is one of ten where PRI is working to abolish the death penalty and implement humane alternative sanctions. […]