Thank you, Mr President!

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

The Candidate Countries Montenegro*, Serbia^*, Albania^*, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, and Georgia, as well as Andorra, align themselves with this statement.

In his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela writes that “No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens but its lowest ones.” Anyone who had the harrowing privilege of visiting the small prison cell on South Africa’s Robben Island knows that this quote is made even more poignant by the conditions of President Mandela’s own 27-year imprisonment. Today, most nations in this Hall are united in their aspiration to live up to the test he established.

As we mark the ten year anniversary of the adoption of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for Treatment of Prisoners - the Nelson Mandela Rules - the EU and its Members States reaffirm our commitment to these rules and principles. They are complemented by more detailed standards and guidance, such as the 2006 European Prison Rules and the 2022 EU Recommendation on the procedural rights of suspects and accused in pre-trial detention and on material detention conditions, which describes minimum standards on access to natural light and fresh air in prison cells, cell size, outdoor time, nutrition and healthcare, family visits under child-friendly conditions, and support for reintegration and social rehabilitation.

EU Member States are also encouraged to take into account the special needs of particular groups of detainees:

Pre-trial detainees are to be held separately from convicted detainees, and women separately from men.

Women’s and girls’ specific physical, vocational, social and psychological needs, as well as sanitary and healthcare requirements are to be taken into account in decisions affecting any aspect of their detention. This includes the requirement to allow detainees to give birth in a hospital outside of the detention facility, to protect the bond between mother and child, and to provide appropriate pre-natal and post-natal health care.

Where children are detained, the child’s best interest must always be a primary consideration. Children should not be detained with adults, unless it is considered to be in the child’s best interest to do so. EU Member States are encouraged, and in the case of children, should make sure, to allocate detainees to detention facilities close to their homes or other places suitable for the purpose of their social rehabilitation.

The specific needs of other groups of detainees, such as young adults, older persons, persons with disabilities or serious health conditions, LGBTI persons, and persons with a minority racial or ethnic background are to be considered in a similar manner.

Taking these specific needs into account is not only a matter of human rights, but also of equality and social inclusion, contributing to successful reintegration and the prevention of reoffending.

The Recommendation also underlines that detention should be used as a last resort. We are committed to adopting alternative measures to detention both in the pre-trial and post-trial stages, where relevant and appropriate.

Internationally, the EU supports 21 programmes specifically focused on improving detention and prison conditions as part of our development cooperation with partner countries outside the EU. We also support the United Against Torture Consortium, which aims to improve detention conditions by working with judicial and prison administrations, police, detention, and security forces. In the first year of implementation, 126 entities in 41 countries reported being empowered through the Consortium’s support in relation to prison reform and prison conditions. Additionally, several EU civilian crisis management missions include capacity building by EU law enforcement and police personnel for their counterparts in the host countries. These efforts are complemented by EU financing for broader security and justice sector reform programmes across the globe, as well as corresponding support by EU Member States.

In stark contrast to these joint efforts to improve prison conditions globally, some UN Member States continue to use imprisonment - and specifically imprisonment under inhumane conditions that violate the human rights of incarcerated persons - deliberately as a tool of political oppression or bargaining. First-hand testimony from former prisoners subjected to restrictions of their communication and visitation rights, lack of access to legal assistance and basic healthcare, and arbitrary solitary confinement is available even from our own colleagues, such as Swedish EU diplomat Johan Floderus, who was held under such conditions in Iran’s Evin Prison for over two years. We are deeply concerned by certain UN Member States’ continued practice to arbitrarily detain foreign citizens on spurious grounds, with a view to using them as “bargaining chips” in negotiations with foreign governments, and condemn the use of the judiciary as a tool for arbitrary detention.

We appreciate this opportunity to jointly recognise that human rights belong to all, including those who are incarcerated. This principle is the basis for today’s exchange on best practices to ensure that prison conditions meet the minimum standards we all agreed on 10 years ago. 
 

* North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.