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During the period from October 2015 to April 2017, Memoria, in partnership with the Penitentiary Department of the Ministry of Justice and with the financial support of the MFA of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, implemented a project aiming to improve the functioning of the penitentiary system through re-integration programs and comprehensive psycho-social services to detainees in seven prisons of Moldova. On the 20th of April took place a closing conference to evaluate the success of this project.

The participants have been welcomed in the beautiful premises of the Summit Events & conference Center which was decorated with the posters made for the exhibition and sale of art work organized earlier and a slide show composed of pictures of the activities implemented in the framework of the project. The conference started with opening speeches regarding the topic investments in human value by honorable guests: Roy Hans, Representative of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Republic of Moldova, Mindaugas Kacerauskis, Political counselor at the European Union Delegation in the Republic of Moldova, Olesea Perean, National officer at the UN office for Human Rights in Moldova, Anatol Munteanu, Vice Minister of Justice, and Igor Guja, Deputy Director of the Penitentiary Department. Two remarks stroke me more particularly. The first one coming from the Representative of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Moldova who quoted Anne Frank’s words "People are just people, even if they committed crime" to underline the importance of detainees' rights as human being. The second remark has been made by the UN officer for Human Rights in Moldova about the fact that depriving people of their liberty doesn't mean depriving them of other rights.

This opening has then been followed by an exchange of gifts. The guests received a piece of the painting made by a volunteer in the framework of the last year’s celebration of the 26^th of June – international day against torture – as a recognition of their various supports to the project. Then, the Center Memoria had the great surprise to receive a Certificate to celebrate its 17^th years of work.

Finally, the representatives of the different prisons had the opportunity to present in more details the activities they developed with and for benefit of the detainees. It was fascinating to hear about the changes observed in the beneficiaries’ behavior and interaction within a group. Moreover, a representative explained that the program benefited at least as much for prison staff as for inmates, pointing out that the improvement in detention conditions had a wider effect than one might think.

As a volunteer, it was stimulating to attend this conference as it provided me with clues to understand the functioning of a project. I have now a better overview of the different steps necessary to make a project on paper become a success.

By Celine Mewissen,

EVS Volunteer at RCTV Memoria