Director-General/Executive Director
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am pleased to join you today to discuss how we can effectively manage prisons to prevent violent extremism and radicalization that leads to violence.
Prisons play a vital role in keeping societies safe, while providing offenders with a viable path towards rehabilitation and reintegration.
Yet, as recognized by the UN Common Position on Incarceration adopted two years ago, violent extremism and radicalization in prisons is a growing concern for the international community.
Prevention is key, as the seeds of radicalization are often laid prior to incarceration.
This means investing in early intervention strategies that identify individuals at risk of radicalization and offering them alternative paths.
Education, vocational training, and targeted support can help steer vulnerable individuals away from extremist influences and towards positive engagement.
By addressing the root causes of radicalization, we can effectively reduce the number of extremists who end up behind bars.
For those who are already incarcerated, we must prioritize disengagement, rehabilitation, and social reintegration.
With more than 11 million people estimated to be imprisoned globally, prisons can become incubators for terrorist recruitment and the radicalization of inmates, including those with no history of violent extremism.
We need to equip prison systems with the tools and expertise to prevent them from turning into breeding grounds for further radicalization, as prisoners’ feelings of despair, frustration, and anger can leave them vulnerable to extremist ideologies.
And we need to ensure that violent extremism prisoners are treated humanely and afforded their full rights, to start them along the path to rehabilitation and reintegration into society.
We must also address the unique needs of women and children associated with terrorist groups.
Women may have been coerced into joining these groups, while children may have been born or raised within a radicalized environment.
Providing them with specialized support, including counseling, education, and healthcare services, is essential to prevent their radicalization and ensure a brighter future for them and their communities.
Together with UNOCT and CTED, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime implemented a global initiative between 2018-2022 to promote effective, humane, and sustainable approaches to the management of violent extremists in prisons, guided by the Nelson Mandela Rules on the Treatment of Prisoners of which UNODC is the proud custodian.
In Kazakhstan, we trained over 4,000 prison officers on prison safety and security, and developed a classification framework to separate prisoners with varying security, supervisory, and treatment requirements based on their risk of radicalization.
We also conducted individualized risk assessments of over 600 prisoners in eight prisons, including one for women offenders, to tailor rehabilitation responses appropriately.
In Tunisia, we established the first-ever Center for Research on Violent Extremism and Rehabilitation in the country, to develop evidence-based rehabilitation and reintegration policies.
We also trained more than 200 prison officers to improve their knowledge on the management of violent extremist prisoners, while taking into account age and gender considerations.
In Uganda, to reduce prison overcrowding, we launched a “decongestion” project to support 750 prisoners with legal aid and address the backlog of cases of prisoners awaiting trial.
We also trained over 2,000 new recruits on preventing and countering violent extremism in prison settings, and trained a further 95 staff on the application of prisoner classification tools, which were piloted in six prisons across the country.
Risk assessments and classification tools are crucial to assist prison staff in recognizing whether a prisoner is being, or has become, radicalized.
So the work that UNODC is doing makes a real impact and creates the possibility to detect and prevent radicalization to violence at an early stage.
Meanwhile, the role of civil society has proven valuable in compensating for the gaps created by the limited financial and human resources available in prison settings.
In Iraq, for example, we are promoting the work of NGOs to mitigate the threat of terrorist and foreign terrorist fighter detainees by promoting sustainable, people-centered approaches to the management of prisons.
This involves providing technical assistance to the Government of Iraq to help develop skills of inmates through vocational and educational training, improve access to justice by providing legal aid, and promote a healthy and safe environment for prisoners.
This experience has shown that NGOs can play an important complementary role in protecting society by ensuring the effective rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Managing violent extremism prisoners is a complex endeavour, but it is one that we cannot afford to ignore.
It requires us to find a delicate balance between addressing security concerns and protecting human rights and due process, with the ultimate aim of preventing violence and fostering reintegration.
By investing in comprehensive and evidence-based approaches, we can empower individuals to reject violence, embrace peaceful alternatives, and contribute positively to their communities.
This is needed more than ever to make progress on SDG 16 to build peace, justice and strong institutions, and all of the SDGs.
You can continue to count on UNODC to support Member States in implementing inclusive terrorism prevention policies and practices so that we may break cycles of violence and build the foundations of a safer, more resilient world for all.
Thank you.