On 25 September, the Council of Europe Project "HELP (Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals) for Ukraine including during wartime" in cooperation with the Higher School of Public Governance jointly presented the new Council of Europe HELP training course "International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights".
Olga Kostenko, International Project Manager, presented the course and explained how it will allow Ukrainian civil servants to better understand how international law is applied in armed conflict and prepare them to address complex legal issues related to the protection of human rights during wartime.
The course unfolds how human rights law continues to apply in situations of armed conflict alongside international humanitarian law – a special regime in public international law designed to protect the basic values of humanity during the war. It explains the interplay between the two branches of law, exploring how they are applied in practice when it comes to key human rights, such as right to life, the absolute prohibition of torture and other forms of ill-treatment, right to liberty, right to a fair trial and so forth.
The course pays special attention attention to the implementation of human rights law and international humanitarian law at the domestic and international levels, as well as to the ways of ensuring accountability for their violation. It also presents the relevant case-law of the European Court of Human Rights and international criminal tribunals.
The presentation was attended by representatives of the National Agency of Ukraine for Civil Service, the Ministry of Education and Science , the State Labor Service and the State Migration Service.
The HELP project has been successfully cooperating with the National Agency of Ukraine for Civil Service and the Higher School of Public Governance for two years. During this period, tutors from the Higher School of Public Governance were trained. Also, national adaptation was carried out and training was organized for civil servants with tutors within the framework of the HELP courses "Internal Displacement", "Anti-discrimination and combating racism, xenophobia and transphobia" and "Human rights in the armed forces".
The self-paced HELP course "International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights" is free of charge and is available on the Council of Europe's HELP Platform. To access the courses, you need to register and create an account (registration form). The full catalog of HELP courses in Ukrainian is available at the link.
