17.03.07
The Role of Prison Reform in Transitional Societies
NUPI-rapport | Oslo, NUPI | 85 sider |
ISBN 82-7002-120-2
Denne konferanserapporten, utarbeidet i samarbeid med Justisdeparementet, tar for seg reform av fengselsvesenet som en del av sikkehetssektorreform.
>> Summary
This report looks into the role of prison reform in transitional societies. It is based on contributions at the conference titled The Council of Europe - Politics and Practice
, held on 6 and 7 September 2004 in Oslo in connection with Norway's chairmanship of the Council of Europe. While the first day was devoted to discussing the Council of Europe (CoE) from a political perspective, the second day focused on its implementation. This report is based on the contributions given on the second day.
There is a balance to be struck between ensuring the safety and security of a society on the one hand, and the right of prisoners to fair treatment on the other. Prisoners' rights and prison conditions are extremely poor in many countries of the world - ranging from the extent to which a rule-of-law system exists as such, to the living conditions in a prison. Moreover, also countries that in their rhetoric proclaim international human rights principles employ torture and other inhuman means of treating their prioners.
The security sector is a core element of a state's sovereignty. A state in transition - from war to peace, or from an authoritarian regime to a democratic - will often have a weak security sector. Even though it is now widely recognised that security reform is an essential part of such transition processes, experience has showed that the penal sector is too often overlooked. This report is intended as a contribution towards changing this imbalance.
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