From law to practice: Strengthening procedural rights in police custody
Duration of the project: 2021-2023
Coordinator: Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft Austria
Partners: APADOR-CH, Rights International Spain, Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Fair Trials Europe
Activities:
- Data collection, regional survey and interviews;
- Development of factsheets and a supporting video on good practices;
- Regional exchange at 4 regional consultations;
- National exchange at 4 national roundtables;
- Development and implementation of national strategic advocacy activities;
- Publication on lessons learned how to effect change and report launch at meeting with EU CSOs.
Direct beneficiaries:
– Criminal justice practitioners (120), such as police officers and lawyers, in 4 Member States;
– Decision-makers (90), e.g. high-level representatives of Ministries, and policy makers, in 4 Member States;
– Civil Society Organisations (40), on the national and EU levels.
Indirect beneficiaries:
– Persons suspected and accused of crime
Objectives:
- Elaborating good practices and explaining practical solutions to key implementation challenges;
- Engaging key criminal justice stakeholders in practical reform efforts;
- Strengthening the capacities of CSOs to promote change
Background: Procedural rights in criminal proceedings continue to be a key priority for the European Union (EU), which since 2009 has adopted a series of secondary law instruments covering numerous procedural rights (the ‘Directives’). The Directives, setting up common minimum standards, were adopted to address the fundamental rights concerns arising from the increasing use of mutual recognition and cross-border cooperation instruments.
Although the status of transposition of the Directives is varied, most have been transposed into national law. However, research has demonstrated that even if legislative and other measures are adopted to give effect to the Directives, this does not automatically mean that they are adequately implemented in practice.
Challenges often arise in the practical application at the stage of arrest and police custody. The project ‘Inside Police Custody 2’ examined the status of implementation of the Directives in this context in 9 Member States (among them were this project´s partner organisations from Austria, Romania and Spain; ICCL led the project).
Although the challenges in effective implementation of the rights protect by the Directives are well-known and reform needs have been identified, there remains an urgent need to focus on implementation. This project will build on this knowledge and fill the gap in terms of practical implementation of good practice by responding to the following needs: more detailed information and exchange on good practices; effective strategies to implement recommendations and good practices; strengthened capacities of Civil Society Organisations (CSO).
Co-funded by the European Union’s Justice (JUST) and Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (REC)
