The Council of Europe Programme HELP “Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals” launched the development of a new course on International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. The working group’s first meeting was held in the end of February 2023 in Strasbourg. The course is developed within the Project "HELP (Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals) for Ukraine, including during wartime".
The expert group working on the course includes renowned international experts Stéphanie Bourgeois, Patrycja Grzebyk, Nobuo Hayashi and Nataliia Hendel. Mykola Gnatovskyy, judge at the ECtHR in respect of Ukraine, moderates the working group.
The need for a new course stemmed from the ongoing armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, where the civilians are being arrested, abducted, tortured, sexually assaulted, injured and killed at a shocking scale, numerous cases of physical and psychological torture, inhumane treatment and executions of prisoners of war have been reported, millions of the Ukrainians have been displaced, civilian infrastructure, cultural and religious heritage of Ukraine have been damaged and ruined. Among other examples, such actions of the Russian Federation constitute serious and massive violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. There is a strong need for training of Ukrainian legal practitioners (prosecutors, investigators, lawyers, academics and students) on (i) International Humanitarian Law(IHL), which is the legal framework applicable to situations of armed conflict and occupation and which aims, for humanitarian reasons, to limit the effects of the said conflict and (ii) related standards of the International Human Rights Law (IHRL), and in particular the ECHR, as the protection it affords does not cease in the case of armed conflict.
The profound knowledge and ability of Ukrainian legal professionals to effectively apply the IHL and IHRL in practice should ensure accountability for serious violations of international law arising out of the Russian aggression against Ukraine to avoid impunity and prevent further violations, as stressed in the Committee of Ministers' decision CM/Del/Dec(2023)1457bis/2.3 of 24 February2023.
The novelty of the course is in covering the interplay between International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law.
Development of the course is expected to be finalized in 2023.
Information on the Council of Europe Project “HELP (Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals) for Ukraine including during wartime” - Council of Europe Office in Ukraine (coe.int)
