Two specific treatment programmes for prisoners have been developed and piloted in Kosovo*. The piloting took place for the first time since the establishment of the Kosovo Correctional Services and was welcomed and considered a success story by the relevant institutions. Moreover, bearing in mind that each session was facilitated by a team composed of a social worker and a psychologist, where the former comes from the Ministry of Justice whilst the latter from the Ministry of Health, the Action has also facilitated in improving the inter-ministerial cooperation and synergies between the two institutions.

The piloting took place in the period February-April 2018, following the development of the two treatment programmes (for short-term and long-term sentenced persons) and training of staff. It was organised in two correctional institutions, namely in Dubrava and the High Security Prison. Moreover, a second piloting for the short-term sentences programme was conducted in Dubrava upon a request from the institution and as suggested by the consultant, with aim to further build the capacities of their facilitators and include more prisoners in the pilot programme.

A total of 14 sessions were monitored by the three Council of Europe consultants, who produced monitoring reports with recommendations for practical adjustments and improvements.

The pilot sessions were organised within the scope of the Action “Enhancing the protection of the human rights of prisoners in Kosovo”, co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe within the “Horizontal Facility for Western Balkans and Turkey” and 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.