50 prison and probation professionals from both North Macedonia and Kosovo* got acquainted with the Council of Europe (CoE) online HELP course on Radicalisation Prevention, that will help them to better address cases of radicalisation in prisons and disengagement from violence.
The virtual launching event taking place in Skopje was opened by Borče Petrevski - national Counter Violent Extremism (CTE) & Counter Terrorism (CT) coordinator in North Macedonia while in Pristina the event was addressed by Nehat Thaqi - Director of Kosovo Correctional Service. Both emphasized the importance of the course and its benefits for the prison and probation professionals in the region, encouraging them to take active participation in the course, aiming to increase their knowledge on how to apply in practice the newly acquired skills on radicalisation prevention and rehabilitation of violent extremist offenders.
The local tutors of the HELP course, who have adapted the course to the local and institutional framework, presented to the participants the structure of the course, key practical aspects and the way forward, thus equipping the participants with the necessary information for the smooth start of the online course.
In the upcoming weeks the course adapted to the specific local needs and circumstances will be launched also in the remaining Western Balkans Beneficiaries, aiming to increase the total number of trained prison and probation professionals in the region to 150. They will be in the forefront of countering radicalisation in the prisons of the Western Balkans Beneficiaries, having an important role in the prisoners’ disengagement from violence.
The launching events were held on 03 February in North Macedonia and 05 February in Kosovo within the scope of the Regional action “Enhancing penitentiary capacities in addressing radicalisation in prisons in the Western Balkans” that is a part of the joint European Union/Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022”, implemented by the Council of Europe.
*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.