Support to the probation service and the system for alternative sanctions in Montenegro

Project description

This project has been jointly developed by CILC and the Netherlands Helsinki Committee in Autumn 2013, and submitted to the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs for project funding under its programme on Cooperation with Pre-accession Countries on the Rule of Law (Matra CoPROL).

Matra CoPROL was the grants policy framework for the Matra (social transformation) programme on Cooperation with Pre-accession Countries on the Rule of Law (CoPROL) (Second Phase) for the period 2014-2016. The overarching policy objective of Matra CoPROL was to strengthen the capacity of government institutions in Southeast European countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia) and Turkey with EU accession prospects to meet the political (Copenhagen) criteria, by means of partnerships with Dutch governmental and semi-governmental institutions on negotiation chapters 23 (Judiciary and fundamental rights) and 24 (Justice, freedom and security) of the EU acquis. The programme also promoted closer ties between Dutch government institutions and their counterparts in the target countries, particularly by strengthening these countries’ ties to the Netherlands and their appreciation of the Netherlands’ ‘strict and fair’ approach to EU enlargement.

The project focused on the following objectives:

• Capacity enhancement of (semi-)state institutions in Montenegro;
• Contribution to reinforcing the bilateral relations between the Netherlands and Montenegro

The project had three complementary components. They reinforced each other and one component ccould not be successful without the other. These were:

• Stimulate the use of conditional sentences and community service sentences by the judiciary;
• Enhance the Montenegrin Probation service to supervise and implement these sentences;
• Create understanding for these sentences among the population.

A team of highly qualified experts worked with the Montenegrin stakeholders to achieve tangible results. A Dutch probation officer assisted his Montenegrin colleagues by providing tailored trainings and on the job coaching. Dutch and Montenegrin judges and prosecutors convened regularly to discuss the ways the judiciary can use and benefit from the probation service in administering justice, for instance by exploring the contribution of the probation service in the pre-trial and post-trial phases.