The Council of Europe (CoE) Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP)^[1] supports the CoE member states in implementing European human rights standards at the national level, focusing on the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), other key CoE instruments, and, since 2015, EU legal content. This is done by raising the capacities of professionals to apply those instruments in their daily work.         

The objective of HELP is to provide high quality education on human rights to judges, prosecutors and lawyers throughout Europe. Law enforcement authorities such as police and prison staff may also be targeted by HELP. Thanks to HELP courses, legal professionals can better protect human rights on a national level and keep up to date with the ever-evolving standards and case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). HELP courses specifically designed for EU countries increasingly incorporate relevant EU legal content.

For the draft concept note of the event and agenda of the event please click HERE. 

The launch will last for 1,5 days and the participants are subsequently expected to enrol in and complete the online course. During the day of the launch, several panels will be ran by experts on the matter at the level of the European Union and the Council of Europe.

The launch is aimed at an international group of 30 participants from EU countries. From Cyprus we will have 1 main candidate and, if possible, 1 for a reserve list. The participant will be selected by ballot. The winner will need to send us a brief description of his profile.

Interested participants should:

• be available to attend the launch event in person
• undertake to follow and complete the online tutored course (approx. 1-2 hours of work per week)
• have the necessary knowledge of English to follow the launch event and the online course; the group is limited to 30 participants. Preference will be given to participants with previous experience on the topic of the course and participants not having attended previous HELP launches. To ensure group diversity, after considering the elements previously mentioned,  selection will be made on a first come, first served basis, from each EU MS
• have a laptop/tablet available for accessing the HELP e-learning platform

The group will be tutored by two experts who will provide support during the undertaking of the online course (Dr Raluca Bercea (Author of the course, Lawyer and Law Professor) and Deirdre O’Gara (Advisory Council from the Office of the Attorney General of Ireland)). The group will gain in depth knowledge about international instruments and policies relevant both at the level of the European Union and the Council of Europe, discussing their interplay.

To declare your interest to participate, please click on the link below:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScScT8TnvjdwO4xCp80Q2Jxcyj5i5V-MxVxzSLws56wjNls4g/viewform

The deadline for submitting your interest is 24 October 2023.

Accommodation and travelling expenses will be covered by the Council of Europe. Selected participants will be contacted by the project team with further details.

^[1] For more information on HELP please visit HELP’s website: www.coe.int/help