Project description
Authors
The Factsheet was developed in the framework of the EU Project ´From law to practice: Strengthening
procedural rights in police custody (ProRPC)’ implemented by the Rights International Spain (Spain)
in cooperation with the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights (LBI GMR,
Austria), APADOR-CH (Romania), Fair Trials Europe (Belgium), and the Irish Council for Civil
Liberties (Ireland).
It was written by Rights International Spain. The chapter on the regional challenges draws heavily on
work of Fair Trials Europe, who conducted in depth regional research in the framework of this Project.
Acknowledgements
The Factsheet is intended for all criminal justice actors and advocates who are interested in reforming
their national system. Other factsheets of the series cover the areas the right to information, access
to a lawyer, and audio-visual recordings. The factsheets should be read in combination with the final
report that provides insights into HOW the envisaged change can be achieved.
The research on the promising practices focused especially on the practices of four EU Member
States: Austria, Ireland, Spain, and Romania. Additional practices and examples from other EU
Member States were gathered via regional consultations as well as the regional research conducted by
Fair Trials Europe. As each practice came about in a specific national context, in order to successfully
replicate them, it will always be important to tailor them to the national contexts, dynamics and
cultures. Yet we hope that disseminating information on the reform processes occurred in other
countries can offer useful inspiration to strengthen procedural rights and overcome existing barriers.
The Project team would like to thank all criminal justice actors, experts, policymakers, practitioners,
decision-makers, as well as all the representatives of civil society who participated in the roundtables
and consultations of this Project for their commitment and engagement.
Our most sincere gratitude goes also to the four members of the External Advisory Board: Marine
Braun, Ed Lloyd-Cape, Ivar Fahsing, and Gwen Jansen, for their invaluable feedback and advice. We
would also like to thank Moritz Birk, Walter Suntinger and Helmut Sax, who have provided precious
inputs and comments.
Information about the Project and Factsheet
The Factsheet highlights the relevance of the right to legal aid during the criminal investigation phase.
It reflects on identified challenges and discusses promising practices. The goal is to respond to the
question WHAT can be done to strengthen procedural rights. To this end, the Factsheet unpacks the
key elements of the promising practices and attempts to identify lessons learnt. Thereby, the Factsheet
not only describes the promising practices, but also investigates three main questions:
•
•
•
What are the main benefits of the promising practices?
How did the promising practices come about? (e.g. What triggered their implementation?
What were the challenges faced beforehand?)
What are the remaining challenges in the implementation of the promising practices?
KOSOVO
4
5