Involvement in international working groups, platforms and projects

As the only institute in the Czech Republic dealing systematically with research in the field of criminology and criminal justice, IKSP is often the recipient of requests for involvement in various international projects in related fields, in which the participation of a partner from the Czech Republic is envisaged. The main objective of IKSP's involvement in such activities is to contribute to the fulfilment of tasks arising for the Czech Republic from international obligations or membership in international institutions, and to represent Czech criminology and the justice sector abroad.

In this way, IKSP staff are involved in the following international activities as part of their work and research activities in IKSP:

• National Correspondent of The European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics. This continuous project was established in 1996 on the initiative of the Council of Europe and is also supported by the EU. It produces a comprehensive yearbook with data on crime and criminal justice in European countries in a uniform structure over several years.
• Membership of the inter-ministerial group on the implementation of the International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes (ICCS), a project of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNIDC), where the Czech Statistical Office is the national coordinator.
• Membership of the steering committee of the project Cultures Of Victimology: understanding processes of victimization across Europe.  This is a pan-European project of The European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST), supported by the EU, with the aim of increasing knowledge of victimization and victimization in European countries.
• Membership of the national group of the international project Restorative Justice: Strategies for Change.  This is a project that was established in 2019 as a joint platform of the European Forum for Restorative Justice and nine European countries, whose main objective is to support the development of restorative justice at national level, to share experiences, to activate different actors in the field of criminal justice and to develop a national strategy for the widespread application of restorative justice.

IKSP cooperation with foreign countries*

Due to the subject of IKSP's activities, we are contacted by representatives of foreign research organisations, criminal justice units, state administration bodies, academic departments or non-governmental non-profit organisations visiting the Czech Republic with a request to provide information on criminological research, crime and criminal justice in the Czech Republic. These contacts take the form of lectures, talks or appearances at events organised for foreign participants by other organisations.

In some cases, the foreign partner expresses an interest in formalising this type of cooperation in some way. Currently, IKSP has a memorandum/agreement on cooperation in this area with the General Directorate of the Prison and Judicial Guard of the Slovak Republic, the Faculty of Law of Comenius University in Bratislava, and the Crime Prevention Department of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Korea.

* IKSP, as a departmental research organisation, is not involved in direct representation of the Ministry of Justice or the Czech Republic in meetings of EU or other international institutions and bodies. With regard to the preparation of various documents with international themes, when necessary and relevant to the issues we deal with, IKSP provides them to the Ministry of Justice, usually at its request and through its relevant section.