UNMIK/PR/1309
PRISTINA – Operational control of the Prizren and Peja/Pec Detention Centres was, for the first time, handed over to Kosovo Prison Directors by PDSRSG Larry Rossin in a ceremony held at UNMIK Mission Headquarters in Pristina this morning.
Welcoming this milestone achievement for the Kosovo Correctional Service, PDSRSG Rossin said, “This is yet another manifestation of the SRSG’s and my own commitment to the continued transfer of responsibilities and competences to Kosovo. The transition in penal management must continue in tandem with that in the police and judiciary, to ensure a balanced growth of all three arms of justice in Kosovo.”
UNMIK’s Penal Management Division (PMD) took over the Prizren Detention Centre from German KFOR in November 1999 and the Peja/Pec Detention Centre from Italian KFOR in November 2000. PMD has since then carried out training and mentoring of the Kosovan staff as well as refurbishment of the facilities, with the support of donor countries and agencies.
“In its quest for international standards, Kosovo has the advantage of having a brand new Correctional Service that has been bred in modern democratic values and does not carry the burden of retrograde penal management practices,” Mr. Rossin said.
With today’s hand-over, KCS Prison Directors will for the first time be responsible for the complete management of their Detention Centres. The Prizren Detention Centre is now under Mr. Hyrjet Selaj and the Peja/Pec Detention Centre comes under Mr. Ago Kolic. The two Prison Directors were among the first group of four Kosovo Correctional Officers who were promoted to the post of KCS Prison Directors in August 2004.
Congratulating the staff of the Kosovo Correctional Service for this accomplishment, the PDSRSG recalled two fundamental principles contained in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – that prisoners should not be subject to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; and that persons deprived of their liberty be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person. These principles are upheld by several UN resolutions on the care of detained persons and are the principles on which the Kosovo Correctional Service has been built, Mr. Rossin stressed.
Among those who attended the ceremony were the Director of Justice Mr. Thomas Monaghan, President of the Supreme Court of Kosovo Mr. Rexhep Haxhimusa and the Head of Penal Management Division Mr. William Irvine.