Supported by the Council of Europe in the framework of the Project “Reinforcing the capacity of the judiciary to apply European human rights standards at the national level in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, the Human rights legal clinic was launched at the Faculty of Law of the University of Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on 18 February 2016.
The aim of the clinic will be to provide students with the necessary theoretical knowledge on human rights issues and practical skills of handling “real cases”. This will include identification of a human rights problem, developing a litigation strategy and counselling victims of human rights violations. The whole exercise will be undertaken under the supervision of Professor Ljiljana Mijović, the former judge of the European Court of Human Rights elected in respect of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is planned that during practical classes the students will be coached by law practitioners – judges and lawyers who co-operate with University of Banja Luka, as well as by legal professionals from other countries. The role of “tutors” in the clinic will be taken by the four participants of the Course on Human Rights organised under the Project in 2014-2015 for law students of various universities throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The welcoming addresses at the opening of the clinic were delivered by the Dean of the Law Faculty Professor Vitomir Popović, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe office in Sarajevo Ms Tania Van Dijk, Council of Europe Project co-ordinator Mr Sergey Dikman and Professor Ljiljana Mijović.
The event was broadly covered by local media (links to the news in Serbian):
