Final conference within the project: “Support to the Effective Management of the Criminal Sanctions Mechanism in Montenegro” successfully organized
The activities carried out within the project: “Support to the efficient management of the criminal sanctions mechanism in Montenegro” will contribute to the ethical responsibility of prison officers in accordance with European standards and good practices.
This was announced at a press conference on the completion of the project: “Support to the Effective Management of the Criminal Sanctions Mechanism in Montenegro”, organized by the Center for Democracy and Human Rights – CEDEM, supported by the Ministry of Justice – Bureau of Criminal Sanctions (ZIKS).
CEDEM’s director Milena Bešić said the project aimed to support the implementation of criminal sanctions laws and action plans, in line with international standards, through improving the framework for implementing relevant standards for the protection of prisoners’ rights and detainees, improving the framework for the ethical responsibility of prison officers in accordance with European standards and good practices.
“Within this project, we have had several activities that we have implemented in previous months. Two-day training sessions were held for members of the training team on the prevention of torture and discrimination against prisoners. The training was attended by three deputy ombudsmen and nine independent advisers”, Bešić said.
She said that two days of training for prison officers and parole officers on the application of ethical standards were held as part of the project, attended by 11 representatives of the Directorate of the Bureau of Criminal Sanctions and five representatives of the Ministry of Justice.
Bešić said that three publications were also published within the project.
General director of the Directorate for Execution of Criminal Sanctions of the Ministry of Justice, Nataša Radonjić, said that the project was an opportunity to work together and cooperate to achieve common goals, stating that this project was the right example of successful implementation of legislative innovations in the area of enforcement of criminal sanctions.
“We have a new value for cooperation, because by working together we have come to a common goal and understanding. This project had a significant area – strengthening the integrity of ZIKS officers and officers of the Ministry of Justice’s Conditional Liberty Directorate working to enforce alternative sanctions, in terms of promoting and applying ethical standards”, Radonjić said.
The Chief Structural Service in the Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office (VDT) and social worker, Dijana Popović Gavranović, spoke about the application of an alternative sanction to minors, explaining that the delinquent behavior of that population bears the mark of social status and characteristic personalities in development.
“This is why juvenile proceedings are different from proceedings and criminal acts against adults. According to adult offenders, they are focused on punishment, and in the case of minors, on measures of upbringing, social assistance and protection without the use of repressive elements”, “Gavranović Popović underlined.
According to her, the aim of the measures against minors is to eliminate all that impedes their development and directs them to delinquent behavior.
“Often, it is not understood regarding juvenile offenders when they come to criminal proceedings that they are still children in development, that they are vulnerable, that they are not mature enough and that they just look to us as adults”, Gavranović said.
