INTERNATIONAL / SYSTEMIC PROJECTS

Fulfillment of the Bangkok Rules in the Czech Republic: a way to support the human rights of imprisoned and released women

Duration: 1. 1. 2022 – 31. 12. 2023

Places of implementation: Prisons Světlá nad Sázavou, Opava, Řepy  and the whole Czech Republic as a place of project aktivities impact

Donor: Supported by a Grant from the peoples of Norway

http://www.norskefondy.cz/

https://eeagrants.org/

Aim of the project: Improve the fulfillment of the rights of imprisoned and released women in the Czech Republic using the principles of the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders, the Bangkok Rules (hereinafter BR).

Summary:

The project joins the call of the UN and PRI to fulfill the BR. With the project we want to improve the awareness of the experts and practitioners about the existence and importance of BR and to point out the possibilities of fulfilling BR by means of new educational materials and tools. We also want to change the stereotypical thinking of the public about convicted women and thus contribute to ensuring a suitable social climate for the application of BR in practice and the necessary systemic changes. The result of the project will be an analysis of the problems and needs of convicted women and an increase in the awareness of the professional and general public about fulfilling the rights and needs of convicted women and increasing their competencies to protect their rights. Part of the project is cooperation with a Norwegian partner. The cooperation will cover sharing good practice of fulfilling the BR in Norway and participatory artistic workshops to raise awareness on human rights of convicted women. Part of the project is the involvement of women with criminal backgrounds in educational and awareness raising activities. The aim is to strengthen their voice and involve them in proposing changes to current practice. To do this, we will use innovative methods applying the principle of empowering and active participation.

Key activities:

KA 1 Search and qualitative research

As part of the project, we will carry out qualitative research among women in prison and after release and professionals who work with this target group. The aim will be to analyze the key issues of fulfilling the rights of convicted women, to analyze the specific factors of marginalization and key barriers to leading a dignified life for this target group. Through research, we respond to the absence of data on this area in the Czech Republic.KA2 Creation of a training manual for mentors, training of mentors and providing their ongoing professional support.

KA2 Raising awareness of the professional public and involvement in the design of solutions

In the project, we will focus on raising awareness of the professional public about the content and tools of BR implementation. We will focus on a group of experts in criminal justice and the integration of released women (social workers, psychologists, lawyers), human rights experts and gender experts as well as policy makers.

We will prepare a set of information and educational materials in which we will focus on:

  • BR content (BR translation, information posters, newsletters)
  • practical aids for the implementation of BR (toolkit for the integration of imprisoned women for the professional public in the field of penis and post-penitentiary care)
  • instructional video on the entry of convicted women into prison

The educational activities will include the mediation of experience and good practice in fulfilling the principles of BR from Norway. The Norwegian expert will take part in a round table and seminar, and will also develop an example of good practice in the field in Norway.

KA3 Participation of the target group of women in describing the problem and proposing solutions

We will pay special attention to the involvement of the target group of convicted women in the educational and awareness-raising activities of the project and to ensure their direct involvement in initiating and creating procedures for fulfilling BR in practice. In addition to the active involvement of target group in the project activities, a unique output will be the creation of an instructional video to improve the training of convicted women entering prison.

We will process it on the basis of the so-called lived experience concept – ie the creators will be the women themselves who have been imprisoned and we will disseminate it through experts who can use the video in their work with target group and through channels aimed directly at target group.

KA4 Public awareness campaign

We will conceive awareness-raising activities as a multi-tool and experiential campaign, which aims to provide information about the importance of fulfilling the rights of a group of convicted women and to change the stereotypical thinking of the majority society towards them. We are targeting the professional and lay public with an awareness campaign. The campaign will also target employers whose role is key in reducing discrimination against convicted women in the labor market.

We will launch an awareness campaign in the second year of the project, the main awareness activities will take place as part of the accompanying program of the Yellow Ribbon Run (YRR) sports awareness event.

We will work with a Norwegian partner on the awareness campaign. It will bring non-traditional awareness-raising activities to the project: participatory art workshops involving the public and women with criminal backgrounds.

Registration number: LP-HRMGSA-018

Implementer: RUBIKON Centrum, z. ú.

Contact:
Gabriela Rulíková
+420 737 313 551
[email protected]

Partner: Culture Breaks Borders