Introduction of the AGIS project and first results (abstract).

Source: (2004) Papers presented at the Third Conference of the European Forum for Victim-Offender Mediation and Restorative Justice, ‘Restorative Justice in Europe: Where are we heading?’, Budapest, Hungary, 14-16 October. Downloaded 22 September 2005.

The European Forum for VOM and RJ launched in the beginning of this year an AGIS project called “Meeting
the challenges of introducing victim-offender mediation in Central and Eastern Europe�?. Its main objective is
to support developments of VOM in Central and Eastern Europe and to improve the exchange around VOM
between the West and the East. The project is only possible thanks to the activity of the European Forum
members and supporters and the financial support of the European Commission. It runs until November 2005;
within its duration following activities are planned: 2 expert meetings and 2 seminars, and a final publication.
The first expert meeting took place in June of this year. It concentrated on the current situation in Central and
Eastern Europe (CEE). The second expert meeting (planned for April /May 2005) will build on the first one
and will look into what can concretely be done to give an impetus to the policy developments around VOM in
CEE. The first seminar coincides with this Conference, and shall serve to bring the Western and the Eastern
experts together.
The second seminar, planned for September 2005, will present the results of the project and will be an
opportunity to discuss how the conclusions and recommendations of the project can be used in a practical way.
At the end of the two years a final publication will be published, which will bring together all the information
collected during the entire project, analyse the project and will include recommendations for the future of VOM
in CEE.
As to the first expert meeting: it took place in Vienna, from 24 to 26 June 2004. 14 experts from Eastern and
Western European countries and also representatives of the European Forum took part. During the meeting,
the situation on VOM in the participating countries was presented. The particular impact was set to the typical
factors (both negative and positive) in CEE countries in relation to the implementation of restorative justice.
The main results will be presented. Author’s abstract.