Introducing & sharing experiences on restorative justice and Victim-Offender Mediation application for juveniles and beyond

Tirana, Albania, 25-26 February 2009

The Regional Forum on “Implementing Alternative Measures in Penal Cases – Introducing and sharing experiences on Restorative Justice and Victim-Offender Mediation application for juveniles and beyond”, was held in Tirana, Albania, from 25-26 February 2009, organized jointly by Albanian Ministry of Justice, UNICEF-Albania (in partnership with EC and SIDA), the Norwegian Mediation Services (NMS), Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Albanian Foundation for Conflict Resolution and Mediation.

During two days, the participants from all over the region – Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosova, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia brought their experiences and practices to this forum. Guest Speakers from Norwegian Mediation Service, European Forum for Restorative Justice, UNICEF, and some well-known European professors and practitioners gave their precious contribution to this Forum.

The aim of this forum was to further advance the regional inter-institutional dialogue and exchange of successful experiences on implementation of restorative justice and the victim-offender mediation. It also aimed at contributing the establishment of the regional networks between professionals for the implementation of restorative justice and the raising of awareness of government and civil society for the advance of the justice reforms in the Balkan countries.

KEY DOCUMENTS
(links will be added shortly)

Full conference report
W:\5_Child Protection\Juvenile Justice\Mediation seminar presentations\Restorative Justice and Mediation Tirana regional conference proccedings.doc

Conference agenda
W:\5_Child Protection\Juvenile Justice\Mediation seminar presentations\Restorative Justice and Mediation Tirana regional conference agenda.doc

Victim-Offender Mediation seen from the perspective of victims, offenders and mediators in Albania - Results and findings from the mediation and restorative justice project
W:\5_Child Protection\Juvenile Justice\Mediation seminar presentations\Albania-afcr ppt.ppt

Lay mediators or professional, Norwegian reflections
W:\5_Child Protection\Juvenile Justice\Mediation seminar presentations\Albania-Norway ppt.ppt

Mediation in Slovenia
W:\5_Child Protection\Juvenile Justice\Mediation seminar presentations\Slovenia ppt-presentation.ppt

SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS

Working groups looked into

• Possibilities and perspectives to implement Restorative Justice in your country/region
• Identifying common points to exchange knowledge, experiences in order to implement Restorative Justice in the Region: and what benefits a regional exchange in the proper countries could bring.

Hereafter are some of the key recommendations:

• Necessity of increasing lobbing activities and advocacy to promote the changes of penal legislation, in particular on juveniles in conflict with the law;

• Raising the awareness of governmental agencies concerning the positive values of restorative justice and mediation in conflict resolution;

• Exploring the appropriate mechanism (such as communication programme targeting behavior change) in order to encourage the judges, prosecutors and judicial police to address the criminal cases to mediation service, and alternatives to detention;

• Establishing a network at national and regional level, in order to introduce and advance the dialogue on restorative justice and mediation approach for juveniles and children in conflict with the law;

• Introduce programs on restorative justice and conflict resolution through peer-group mediation in schools;

• Organize activities for raising the support from social actors, especially the support of media in promoting the values of restorative justice practice in managing conflicts among juveniles, young people and adults.

• Implementation of pilot projects in the field of mediation along with the development of legal basis are common development in many countries - Special attention should be paid to the young people.

• The experiences of different regional countries should be a good opportunity for the regional cooperation and for exchanging these experiences.

• Introduction of the mediation and restorative justice approach training in the curricula of Magistrates’ School (law schools).

• The need for inter-institutional collaboration and exchange of practical experiences in Balkan countries

• The need for training of police officers, prosecutors and judges; organizing round-tables and study visits, developing research studies and strengthening the collaboration among countries of the region – the organization of this forum was considered a the first step in this regard.

• Model of cooperation between Albania and Norway has been very fruitful and it must be encouraged for promoting this model to other Balkan countries.