APS : Sunday, 17 February 2019
ALGIERS-Deputy Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Algeria, Edewin Carrié on Sunday welcomed Algeria’s pioneering experience in detainee reintegration, based essentially
on constitutional reforms related to human rights and public freedoms.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of a regional training meeting on “Support to the contribution of civil society to detainee reintegration,” held in Algiers, Carrié said that Algeria “is the region’s leader” in this field and its experience “has caught the interest of many countries, like Mali, Niger and Lebanon recently.”
Stressing that the Algerian experience relies on constitutional reforms on human rights and collective and individual freedoms, the UN official recalled that Algeria had replaced rehabilitation by reinsertion, a measure that reflected “a strong political willingness to make this issue at the heart of social peace and security through reducing criminal recidivism.”
As regards the role of association, Carrié stated that “civil society’s contribution would promote the harmonious reintegration of former prisoners into their society.”
Algeria’s efforts in this matter “are in line with the UNDP’s 2017-2021 strategy. During the two remaining years, we will focus on support to association and the construction of reception centres for detainees so that they engage directly with assistant psychologists and social workers, and speed up their reintegration under a bilateral cooperation programme with Algeria,” said the UN official.
In this regard, he said that women prisoners “will receive special attention” given their vulnerable social situation.
For his part, Director General of the Prison Service, Mokhtar Felioune, highlighted the role of civil society in ensuring the reintegration of prisoners and welcomed Algeria’s “cooperation with associations as part of reforms on prison policy.”
