This past January, as a part of the project JUSTIN Erasmus, we have visited two important places for restorative justice in Belgium (and Europe), namely our long-term partner European Forum for Restorative Justice and an organization named Moderator.
We do not need to introduce the EFRJ. During this visit, however, we had a very specific goal with the EFRJ, which was to share current good practice in the implementation of restorative principles in the context of various classifications of criminal offenses, including the most serious ones. Furthermore, the EFRJ will play a key role in the dissemination of the output of the JUSTIN project, which is why we also discussed suitable opportunities for sharing our progress during, as well as the outcomes after the end of this project.
Our second stop in Belgium was the Leuven organization Moderator, which specializes in mediation of serious criminal activity and training in this type of mediation. The fact that Moderator is our next partner for the planned training of mediators is a great honor for us. Moderator is a top expert in the topic of opportunities for restorative principles in serious criminal offenses and not only possesses theoretical knowledge, but above all, is one of the most respected sources of long-term practice in this specific branch of restorative justice. Thanks to their deep knowledge and rich experience, Katrien and Pieter were able to provide us with insight and advice tailored to our home environment; from tips on what works to dead ends to avoid.
Petra Masopust Šachová
/”It works in Belgium, it will work here too!”/
:/u0022It works in Belgium, it will work here too!u0022/
We can’t wait to have to pass on this and other knowledge, as we here at IRJ begin preparing the mentioned training. It will take place in May in Prague with the participation of colleagues from the Slovak Ministry of Justice. We will provide all information about this training in the coming weeks. Follow our Facebook and this website for details and to register!
If you are interested in the topic of mediation in the Czech Republic, we have created a comprehensive report at the kick off of the JUSTIN project. In it you can learn, for example, that in the Czech Republic there is a great potential for the extension of mediation to more serious types of criminal activity and to executive criminal proceedings, and in Slovakia there is a need to build adequate capacities for the full provision of restorative justice methods. But it contains much more information – the development of mediations, current challenges and more.