The Working
Group on Internal Security is a new NISPAcee Working Group, which objectives
are:
- to present theory-based
country case-studies in working group following detailed research program
and summarizing them into comparative studies;
-
to provide common
ground for comparative research, joint research programs and international
cooperation on training and exchange of experience between practitioners
and researcher of prison, police and other areas on internal security.
At the
beginning of 1990-ies in many Central and Eastern European countries policing
(often called also "militia"), implementation of imprisonment and
other spheres of internal security were military or paramilitary organizations
with little transparency and accountability, with highly horizontal, byrocratic,
and authorial organization and management culture, with poorly educated and
also poorly paid stuff, and high risk of breaching of human rights (in the
sense of the Western Europe has understood the concept of human rights, at
least) and little legal guaranties for the person they approached.
During last
two decades in many countries of Central and Eastern Europe arrangement of
these state functions has been de-militarized, often administration of prison
and some functions of police or prosecution have been moved from dominion of
ministry of internal affairs to dominion of ministry of justice. The set of
legislation in these areas has gone through tremendous changes and developments,
introducing new legal guaranties for people and making agencies and officers
more accountable for their decisions and activities. There is usually
remarkable shift towards openness and transparency in these organizations
(introduction of visiting boards, legal ombudsman and other control bodies,
allowing CPT visits, etc) and in many cases the organizational culture and
management has become less formal and authorial.
For a great share these
changes have been introduced due to external influence (preparation for joining
EU, membership in UN, reports of OECD, etc), but there are also internal
factors (use of ICT, improvement of physical conditions (buildings and
erections, vehicles, equipment), change in social values, economic conditions,
general constitutional and legal framework, etc) having impact on those
changes. The development of policing and implementation of imprisonment has
been very different in countries of Central and Easter Europe, even if there
have been similar conditions and developments in other areas of government.