International conference “Towards a Safer Society through Re-socialisation Practices” took place in Kyiv on 21 September 2016 in organisation of the Council of Europe. The event aimed to reinforce the international donors’ message on importance of the re-socialisation process (whether in custody or upon release) and demonstrate a variety of good practices in use.  

Two project pilot prisons for juveniles, one in Kremenchuk (Poltava Oblast) and one in Pryluky (Chernihiv Oblast) presented their successful practices developed by the mini-projects on rehabilitation.  Their presentations were followed by the contributions from other international donor organisations, namely the EU funded project on “Support to Justice Sector Reforms in Ukraine”, Convictus Ukraine Half-Way House, Canada-funded Ukraine Juvenile Justice Reform Project (UJJRP), NORLAU (The Norwegian Rule of Law Advisors to Ukraine), and DVV International. The discussion that followed took due account of rehabilitation aspects of the penitentiary reform.

The conference was attended by the representatives of the Ukrainian Parliament, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, and six project pilot prisons staff, civil society and international stakeholders. It contributed to a closer and more coordinated interaction between stakeholders to enable better coherence and exchange between stakeholders engaged in the reform.   

This activity was organized in the framework of the EU/CoE Joint Project “Further Support for Penitentiary Reform in Ukraine 2015-2017”, which is funded through the CoE/EU Programmatic Cooperation Framework for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus.