Making Alternatives to Detention in Europe a Reality by Exchanges, Advocacy and Learning – The MADE-REAL project

Date:

September 2013 - April 2015

Administrator:

Odysseus Network, Free University of Brussels, Belgium / Odysseus Network, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium

Collaborators:

Diakonie Fluchtlingsdienst (Austria), Coordination and initiatives for refugees and Etrangers (Belgium), Legal clinic for Refugees and Immigrants (Bulgaria), France Terre d'Asile (France), Greek Council for Refugees (Greece),

- Hungarian Helsinki Committee (Hungary), Center for Sustainable Society (Lithuania), Jesuit Refugee Service (Malta), Justitia et Pax Nederland (Netherlands),

Slovak Humanitarian Council (Slovakia), Institute for Legal Research, Education and Counseling (iLREC) (Slovenia), Swedish Red Cross (Sweden), Bail for Immigration Detainees (England).

Country:

The activities will be implemented in the countries where the partner organizations are located

Category:

European Refugee Fund 2012

Goals:

The project will attempt to address the gaps in knowledge and implementation of alternative detention practices in the EU, to assist Member States in the national transposition of the updated Host Conditions Directive and to enhance the use of alternatives to detention, in accordance with with European and international legal standards.

Actions:

• Research to be conducted in Austria, Belgium, Lithuania, Slovenia, Sweden and England on national legal frameworks and alternatives to detention. (Nov 2013 - Jan 2014)
• Writing a synthetic research report and a European training module on this topic. (Jan - Jun 2014)
• 2 day seminars in Bulgaria, France, Greece, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands and Slovakia, making use of each nationally tailored training module created. (Jul - Dec 2014)
• Awareness and communication activities at national and European level.
• Final conference to present the results of the program. (Feb 2015)

Results:

The main outcome of the project is that legal practitioners in the Member States will have been trained in alternatives to detention and that knowledge will have been transferred from Member States with greater experience in using alternatives to Member States with little or no experience relevant practice.