This manual is the result of a long process to identify and promote the use of global juvenile justice indicators. This work was initiated at UNICEF, and has been led since its inception by Alexandra Yuster. Jan Baaroy provided early technical support. An expert reference group worked over a period of 6 months to select the final indicators. Members were Professor Jaap Doek, Chair, Committee on the Rights of the Child, Paulo David and Joel Mermet, OHCHR; Eléonore Morel, Penal Reform International; Ann Skelton, Centre for Child Law, South Africa; Willie McCarney, International Association of Family and Youth Judges and Magistrates; Hans Schueler-Springorum, University of Munich, Séverine Jacomy, OMCT; Professor Sedfrey Candelaria, Ateneo Human Rights Center; Ray Dean Salvosa of Consuelo Foundation; Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF and Nigel Cantwell, independent consultant.

1. The United Nations has been concerned with the humane treatment of all human beings, including those who are imprisoned. It has created and adopted a number of international legal instruments to protect and guarantee human rights and fundamental freedoms. The application in practice, however, of these instruments falls far short in many, perhaps most, countries.

2. Penal Reform International (PRI) is mandated inter alia to seek ‘to achieve penal reform, recognizing diverse cultural contexts, by promoting the development and implementation of the human rights instruments with regard to law enforcement, prison conditions and standards ...’.

3. PRI has, therefore, initiated a project, ‘Making Standards Work’, which has as its aim (i) the improved implementation of internationally recognised standards of prison treatment by making them better known, (ii) strengthening international contact between those concerned with these

The main part of this document is an outcome of the practical experiences of Penal Reform International (PRI) and Royal Netherlands Tuberculosis Foundation’s (KNCV) programmes aiming to improve tuberculosis (TB)/HIV management and human rights in prisons. The focus is Kazakhstan, where the largest and longest running joint project was implemented (1998-2004). Brief information is given also about the programme in Moldova (2003-2006).

When a person is detained or sentenced to imprisonment they are deprived of one of their most basic human rights: the right to liberty. The deprivation of liberty necessarily results in prisoners becoming dependant on the detaining authorities for the realization of their other basic human rights. As the Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners sets out:

Except for those limitations that are demonstrably necessitated by the fact of incarceration, all prisoners shall retain the human rights and fundamental freedoms set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and, where the State concerned is a party, the International Covenant on Economic and Social Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Optional Protocol thereto, as well as such other rights as are set out in other United Nations Covenants.

Международная конференция «Женщины в местах лишения свободы»

Гомель, Республика Беларусь

11 - 13 октября 2007

80 делегатов из Беларуси, России и Украины, представители государственных органов власти, правоохранительных структур, научного сообщества и общественных организаций, встретились в Гомеле, Республика Беларусь, в период с 11 по 13 октября 2007 года для того, чтобы обсудить проблемы исполнения наказаний в виде лишения свободы в отношении женщин. Гомельская декларация по исполнению наказаний в отношении женщин, следующая ниже, явилась результатом обсуждений и предложений участников конференции. Следует, однако, отметить, что проблемы и меры, указанные в Декларации, не являются в одинаковой степени актуальными для всех участвующих государств, принимая во внимание особенности процесса развития каждой из стран. Данный документ будет направлен в национальные правительства, государственные законодательные и исполнительные органы, правоохранительные структуры, учебные заведения, общественные организации и всем заинтересованным лицам для развития и совершенствования уголовно-исполнительной политики в отношении женщин, находящихся в местах лишения свободы.

The International Conference on Women in Prison

Gomel, Republic of Belarus

11 - 13 October 2007

Eighty delegates from Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, representing state institutions, law enforcement bodies, academic circles and civil society organisations, met in Gomel, Republic of Belarus from 11 to 13 October 2007 to discuss problems relating to the execution of criminal punishments for women. The Gomel Declaration on the Execution of Punishments for Women, stated below, is a result of debates and suggestions from conference participants. Bearing in mind the specificities of each country’s development it should be noted that the problems and measures highlighted in the Declaration are not equally relevant to all the states that participated in the conference. This document will be sent to national governments, legislative and executive bodies, law enforcement agencies, academic institutions, civil society organisations and other concerned entities and individuals to support future development and the improvement of criminal-executive policy concerning women in prison.

The Training Exercises and Topics for Discussion were developed by Agneta M. Johannsen. Agneta M. Johannsen has extensive experience in peacebuilding, gender and post-conflict transition. Agneta worked as advisor, staff and consultant with several international organisations, including the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme and the Japan International Cooperation Agency. She was Deputy to the Director of the War-torn Societies Project at the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development and led a research, training and evaluation team for the project’s successor organisation, WSP International. She has also worked for several non-governmental organisations. Agneta has also been Faculty Member at Webster University in Geneva and is a psychological counsellor. Combining her interests in international relations, psychology and anthropology, Agneta’s professional orientation has recently focused on cross-cultural communication, learning/training and trauma response. The Examples from the Ground were compiled by Beatrice Mosello and Ana Dangova of DCAF. This part of the Gender and SSR Training Resource Package was edited by Megan Bastick.