More than 20 representatives of the Judicial Academies and Bar Associations of the Western Balkans six Beneficiaries, government agents at the European Court of Human Rights and Council of Europe staff, gathered for two days to discuss the results of the previous EU/CoE Joint Programme Horizontal Facility II “HELP in the Western Balkans” action and set the activities for the new two-years project funded by the Human Rights Trust Fund (HRTF).

The new project “HELP in the Western Balkans” aims at enhancing capacities and skills of legal professionals for effective application of European standards mainly through professional training and university education at national and regional level. The specific courses were identified in close cooperation with WB partners and in coordination with the Department for the Execution of the Judgements of the European Court of Human Rights.

The meeting was chaired by Eva PASTRANA, Head of Judicial and Human Rights Training Division, and the participants were welcomed by Mr. Lassi HARMALA, Deputy Head of the Embassy of Finland, as Finland holds the chairmanship of the Human Rights Trust Fund of the Council of Europe.

HELP courses cover Council of Europe and EU standards (extremely relevant for WB) and are adapted to domestic legal needs. They are implemented jointly with WB Justice Training Institutions and Bar Associations, with some of them becoming integral part of the national training programmes and others reinforcing the regional networking among those institutions and legal professionals.

Assessing training needs of the partner institutions in line discussions with representatives from the Government Agents and Execution Department of the Council of Europe, the following HELP courses have been tentatively selected as priority for some of the WB partners. See 2-minute introductory videos by clicking on the links below:

• Prohibition of ill-treatment
• CPT standards
• Right to liberty and security
• Alternatives to detention
• Procedural safeguards in criminal proceedings and victims’ rights (https://vimeo.com/407666391)
• Judicial reasoning and human rights
• Ethics for judges, prosecutors and lawyers (https://vimeo.com/540560904) 
• Data protection and privacy rights (https://vimeo.com/400924603)
• Family law and human rights (https://vimeo.com/407596263)
• Property rights

Many of above-listed courses are already available in WB languages as self-learning in the Council of Europe HELP e-learning platform at https://help.elearning.ext.coe.int/ and, upon completion, participants can obtain individualised and digital statement of accomplishments.