News Item

Border monitoring guidance presented to National Preventive Mechanisms

FRA presented its forthcoming guidance on setting up national independent border monitoring mechanisms at the 2022 European Conference of National Preventive Mechanisms.

The Council of Europe organised the event on “Monitoring the rights of specific groups of people deprived of their liberty”, as part of the joint Council of Europe/EU "SPACE Reports and EU Network of prison monitoring bodies" project.

The Forum provides a platform for exchange and discussion to assist European NPMs in carrying out their mandate effectively and independently, and consequently enhancing mutual trust in detention conditions in EU Member States and beyond (Council of Europe member States, as well as countries from the MENA region, namely Morocco and Tunisia).

This year the focus was on the specifics of monitoring detention conditions and treatment of different specific categories of people deprived of their liberty, including migrants.

The event took place on 5 and 6 October in Strasbourg and online. There were over 120 attendees from National Preventive Mechanisms, along with representatives of the European Commission, EU agencies, UNHCR, IOM, and leading NGOs on the matter.

FRA will share its upcoming guidance with the Council of Europe’s Preventive Mechanism coordinator once it is out.