The European Council has noted that “excessively long periods of pre-trial detention are detrimental for the individual, can prejudice judicial cooperation between the member states and do not represent the values for which the European Union stands”, considering that pre-trial detention offers important justice safeguards while it is intended as an exceptional measure. Over-use of this measure is ruining lives and using a large amount of European Union countries’ resources.
There is a clear need for guaranteeing minimum conditions when a minor is arrested before trial. Despite this, there are no common rules for all Member States in relation to procedures and conditions of such preventive detention and pre-trial detention, regardless of the interest of United Nations and European Union Institutions.
Therefore, in order to comply with the minimum rules, the MIPREDET project aims to explore the situation in different countries in Europe, in order to recommend measures to be applied to fulfil the identified needs and assess how the new proposal for a Directive of The European Parliament and of the Council on procedural safeguards for children suspected or accused in criminal proceedings is being applied in practice. The target groups of the project are: organisations related to juvenile justice; experts (researchers, university professors); custodial centre staff; justice practitioners (judges, attorneys, lawyers); policy makers; and law enforcement authorities.
The project is scheduled to last 24 months. It started in June 2015 and will end in June 2017.
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The general objective of the project is to analyse the procedures and conditions in which an untried minor is deprived of liberty, to learn about the actual practice and the legal requirements, and how these influence the situation in Europe.
The project aims to improve knowledge of European and national regulations and the knowledge of what is happening in the actual practice of pre-trial detention in some countries in Europe. It also aims to raise awareness of the importance of guarantees and conditions of pre-trial detention and developing a new approach on how to deal with pre-trial detention, how to improve conditions and guaranteeing the rights of minors.
Results will be displayed on the project's web section.
The project is co-funded by the Justice programme of the European Union.
It is coordinated by Fundación Diagrama (Spain)
Partners of the project are:
Istituto Don Calabria (Italia)
Univesidade Catolica Portuguesa do Porto (Portugal)
The International Juvenile Justice Observatory (Belgium)
IJJO role:
The IJJO is responsible for conducting research on European and other international regulations regarding the rights of citizens, and minors in particular, in relation to pre-trial detention, procedures, guarantees and conditions, and drafting a report on the subject.
It is also responsible, along with the other partners, for disseminating the results and outcomes of the project throughout its network.