13th November 2018 - Cairo, Egypt
For the first time ever, 34 representatives from the Ministries of Justice, directors of prison administrations, judges, prosecutors and Attorney Generals, from six countries, i.e. Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Morocco, came together in the UNODC-supported regional workshop on "Promoting Effective Use of Alternatives to Imprisonment in the Middle East and North Africa" under the UNODC Global Prison Challenges Programme. The participating delegations shared their national legislative context and current practices on the use of alternatives to imprisonment, challenges faced and specific needs to improve both theoretical and practical alternatives to imprisonment.
In preparation of this regional workshop, UNODC supported the preparation of country draft reports on national alternatives to imprisonment, in order to provide a mapping on alternatives and to serve as a starting point for discussions during the workshop.
The participating delegations agreed on a general set of recommendations to improve the effective use of alternatives to imprisonment in their countries. The workshop concluded with initiating national action plans for each participating country in order to initiate and/or strengthen the effective and efficient implementation of alternatives to imprisonment.
For more information on UNODC's work on alternatives to imprisonment, please read: