Towards harmonised detention standards in the EU: The role of National Preventive Mechanisms – Workshop in Sofia

Within the scope of the project “Towards harmonised detention standards in the EU – the role of National Preventive Mechanisms (NPM)” the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights organised a workshop in Sofia, Bulgaria (18th and 19th of November 2019), in cooperation with its project partner the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee.

Among the 30 participants were members of the NPM from twelve countries of the European Union, including Portugal, which was represented by advisor Miguel Feldman.

The workshop is intended to consolidate, by summer 2020, a handbook to support the work of NPMs across Europe on how to monitor the treatment of detainees, especially those in particularly vulnerable situations.

The NPM is an independent entity  – in Portugal it operates under the Ombudsman – that conducts unannounced visits to places where persons are deprived of their liberty in order to prevent situations of torture, ill-treatment or other abuse. Portuguese NPM activities have been focused on prisons, youth detention centers and temporary detention centers (and similar spaces).