Current projects in the Middle East and North Africa region including the following:
Enhancing rule of law and people’s access to justice in Sudan
Funded by the European Union, a three year project was awarded to PRI in 2023 to work in six states in Sudan to enhance the rule of law in Sudan by promoting access to justice as well as increasing gender equality and human rights in detention.
The project is designed to support the creation of a proper legal aid system in Sudan, one that can provide effective and efficient legal assistance to people in need. It will also be tackling the poor living conditions and services inside places of detention, which amount to human rights violations. Moreover, the project will work on enhancing detention conditions for children who are detained at police station level, awaiting their trial.
Enhancing the role of the female police in Yemen
PRI has been supported by the Embassy of the Netherlands in Yemen to implement the second phase of its project “Enhance the Role of the Female Police in Yemen in Supporting Peace and Access to Justice”. The project aims to improve the protection of women and their children and maintain peace and security in Yemen through the meaningful participation of female police officers.
By strengthening the enabling environment within the Ministry of Interior and the Police Force to prevent, respond to, and investigate cases and crimes that involve women through effective, inclusive, gender-responsive mechanisms and measures that encourage women to seek justice, the project will contribute to peace and security in Yemen and enhance Yemeni women’s access to justice and protection from gender-based violence.
The project will continue to invest in the female police academy by providing specialised training and technicalities to respond to the emerging needs and challenges of women, such as enhancing the capacity of female police officers in investigating cybercrimes. It will also involve training on cases of children, especially those who are subject to violence, as well as diversion and reconciliation for cases that involve children, especially girls, to promote diversion from the justice system to protection programmes provided by UNICEF and other UN agencies.
Supporting civil society’s role in justice sector reform and human rights promotion in Algeria
PRI has been supported by the Embassy of the Netherlands in Algeria to implement a two-year project, “Empowering local civil society organizations in Algeria to support efforts for reforming the justice sector and promoting human rights”. The project aims to promote human rights within the work of the justice sector by building an effective partnership with civil society and the national council for human rights and promoting collaboration between all institutions.
As part of the project, PRI will work to provide technical support to both justice sector stakeholders (the police and judiciary) and local NGOs by building their capacities around international standards for the administration of justice, justice reform methods and priorities, and enhancing their coordination and working channels to achieving the project’s objectives.
Previous projects:
Penitentiary System Reform in Sudan
PRI conducted a short-term assessment of the capacity of Sudan’s prison system and the extent to which it complies with international human right standards as well as a legal review. The findings and recommendations from the assessment were shared with authorities with the aim of improving conditions and treatment, amending the legal and procedural framework and bringing policies and practices in line with international human right standards. This assessment was funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
Support to the Algerian Prison Directorate in Mainstreaming a Human Rights-Based Approach
Funded by the FCDO and in partnership with the British Embassy in Algiers, this project aimed to improve the protection of human rights of people in prison. PRI worked with the Prison Directorate in Algeria to review and amend the current strategy of the Prison directorate developed for the years 2018-2020. The adoption of the previous strategy had an impact on enhancing the Prison Directorate’s capacity, management, enhanced the protection of prisoners’ rights and helped the Prison Directorate to be more efficient in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic by following action plan that was developed as part of the strategy and related to response to crises and emergencies.
Penitentiary system reform in Yemen
A four-year project (December 2014–November 2018), funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which aimed 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 and police levels.