On 6-7 December 2018 the EPLN co-organised the international conference “Overcoming obstacles to the access of detained persons to rights and the judge: European perspectives” at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The conference was opened by Guido Raimondi, President of the Court. With the intervention of judges and members of the ECtHR, researchers, law practitioners and international specialists of the penal and penitentiary field.
During the conference, the situation of access to rights and to court of prisoners in 10 countries of the EU (Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, United Kingdon) were presented, as well as in the United States, Ukraine and Russia.
The findings of a research carried out in 9 EU countries on legal aid systems and measures adopted to allow for the intervention of lawyers in prison were presented during the conference, concluding that access to legal resources in detention and the external intermediaries for prisoners’ complaints are critical factors in the judicial protection in detention and that a committed policy for safeguarding access to legal aid in detention should be initiated at the European level, bringing together legal requirements and soft law defined by Council of Europe and EU institutions.
The conference also articulated in several thematic sessions around such questions as the impact of austerity policies on the protection of rights in prison, counter-terrorism measures and their consequences on the defence of fundamental rights of detainees. The conference finally highlighted the mobilization and role of civil society players for overcoming the isolation of prisoners.
The conference was organised in partnership with the CNRS, University of Strasbourg/SAGE, CESDIP/Université de Saint Quentin en Yvelines/Ministère de la Justice, University of Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne/ISJPS, Montaigne Centre for Rule of Law and Administration of Justice/University of Utrecht, Helsinki Foundation of Human Rights, Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts, University of Florence, Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, Institute for International Research on Criminal Policy/University of Ghent, General Council of Spanish Bars, Pontifical University of Comillas, Droit et Changement Social/University of Nantes.
The conference was co-funded by the European Union’s Justice Programme (2014-2020), GIP Mission de Recherche Droit et Justice, Alliance Europa, the Foundation Bevordering van Strafrechtelijk Onderzoek Utrecht, Ordre des Avocats Strasbourg, and was granted the Scientific Label of the Université Franco-Italienne
