Justice Minister Nela Kuburović and Head of the European Union (EU) Delegation to Serbia, Ambassador Sem Fabrizi, presented the representatives of the Alternative Sanctions Administration offices with the keys to 26 vehicles which had been procured with the EU funds through the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) 15 Project Acquisition of Equipment for Commissioners’ Offices in Serbia. The vehicles were ceremonially presented at the new Correctional Facility in Pančevo.
The Justice Minister thanked the Ambassador and the EU for the donation which she noted had not been the only EU support enjoyed by the Ministry of Justice and the Directorate for the Enforcement of Criminal Sanctions. She explained that the EU would be additionally equipping the commissioners’ offices with new computers and printers as part of the same IPA project worth 338,000 euros. The Justice Minister added that the EU funds also enabled the construction of a new complex at the Women’s Prison in Požarevac, which she thought showed commitment to the advancement of the criminal sanctions enforcement system in Serbia.
‘On the one hand, we have the EU’s support, and on the other hand, the Government of the Republic of Serbia has been working on improving the position of the convicted persons and staff working in the prison system, primarily through infrastructure investments for which it has been allocating more and more funds each year’, the Minister said. She explained that the handover of the vehicles was taking place at the recently opened facility in Pančevo, with the capacity to house 500 convicts, because it had been built to the highest European standards.
The Minister announced that soon the construction of a new prison in Kragujevac would commence, all of which ought to help reduce the overcrowding in prisons. ‘It is necessary to keep working on strengthening the system of alternative sanctions, and one of the ways to do it is today’s project which has resulted in increased resources of the Commissioners’ Offices in Serbia, and has yet to reduce the overcrowding in prisons’, Minister Kuburović emphasised.
Ambassador Fabrizi stated that services offered by the Alternative Sanctions Administration offices were not only for the individuals but more broadly for the Serbian society as a whole. He noted that the best EU practice has shown that sending people to prisons is not always the best solution to the problems faced by the society. ‘The role of alternative sanctions must not be underestimated. With adequate resources, they can change people’s lives and, therefore, have a wider positive impact on the entire society. The EU is prepared to provide addition support in this area if Serbia were to continue to take leadership’, Fabrizi said.
There are 25 offices of the Alternative Sanctions Administration in Serbia, located in the seats of all the high courts in Serbia. Criminal sanctions and measures are enforced in every community so that the society may be protected against crime, and with the aim of reintegrating and re-socialising the convicted persons. The enforcement tasks are performed by the Commissioners’ Offices under the Directorate for the Enforcement of Criminal Sanctions.
The EU donation for the procurement of the vehicles was 298,000 euros. Over the past 5 years, the EU has allocated over 7 million euros in support of Serbia’s penal reform.
In the past 12 years, Serbia has received more than 8 billion euros out of the EU budget alone, 5 billion euros in European Investment Bank loans and 3.3 billion euros in donations. The EU remains committed to supporting Serbia and implementing justice sector reforms in favour of Serbia’s citizens.