OSCE Presence in Albania and partners conclude series of awareness-raising events to promote alternatives to custody
The OSCE Presence in Albania, on 6 December 2016 in Tirana, concluded a series of events held throughout the year with Albanian judges and prosecutors with the aim of raising their awareness on alternatives to custody as a part of a project by the OSCE Presence to support the rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders.
Similar events were held earlier this year in Durrës, Gjirokastra, and Korça, and were all jointly organized with the Ministry of Justice and the General Prosecutor’s Office.
The awareness-raising events were supplemented by trainings, organized in co-operation with the Albanian School of Magistrates and the Probation Service, which involved over 70 judges and prosecutors from across the country. They focused on promoting the use of probation as an alternative to imprisonment and a valuable instrument for enhancing the offenders’ social reintegration. Judges and prosecutors were also briefed on the role of the Probation Service in all phases of criminal proceedings as well as in the electronic monitoring of offenders.
“The deprivation of liberty should be a measure of last resort, only to be applied where the seriousness of the offence would make any other measure clearly inadequate,” said Head of the OSCE Presence, Ambassador Bernd Borchardt. “The Presence has recommended an increased use of alternatives to custody. We are pleased to see that the number of offenders on probation has continuously increased, from 705 in 2009 to about 24,700 in 2016.”
Justice Minister Ylli Manjani and General Prosecutor Adriatik Llalla also addressed the awareness-raising event in Tirana.
The Presence has played a key role in establishing the Probation Service in Albania, supporting this institution both through capacity-building activities, and helping it enhance co-operation with other institutions involved in alternatives to custody. Support to the Probation Service’s consolidation is expected to continue with specialized training courses for probation officers as well as efforts to further promote it as a recognized actor in the justice system.