Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) in the EU Contact Points Seminar – "Rethinking human rights training in EU Member States"

The seminar, which focused on “Rethinking human rights training in EU Member States”, brought together the HELP Network members and partners from the EU, who discussed ways of enhancing human rights training results and on how to improve effective co-operation among all members and partners in the EU.

In her opening remarks Ambassador Vesna Batistić Kos focused on the pivotal role the HELP Programme plays to ensure that justice professionals are well-trained on the matter of human rights, which is one of the common values of the EU and the Council of Europe. Referring to the European Judicial Training report 2023, she highlighted the challenge of the digitalisation of justice, which is a key priority for the EU Commission. Ambassador Batistić Kos stressed that judicial trainings should foster an environment that actively supports the digital transformation of the justice systems and encouraged the HELP programme to contribute with its future activities to assist professionals facing the challenges of digitalisation.

Mr Frédéric Dolt, Head of the Department for the Implementation of Human Rights, Justice and Legal Co-operation Standards of the Council of Europe, highlighted the strategic partnership of the EU with the Council of Europe and the long history of cooperation in the HELP joint programme. He also underlined that HELP programmes are present not only within the borders of the Council of Europe Member States, but also in the Council of Europe neighbourhood regions of the South Mediterranean and Central Asia. Finally, Mr Dolt underscored the impact of the Russian aggression to Ukraine on the HELP programmes, especially with the setting-up of virtual e-desks on the topic of migration and asylum and the setting up a country-specific HELP programme in Ukraine.

This event is part of the European Union and the Council of Europe joint programme “Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals in the European Union III", funded by the European Union and implemented by the Council of Europe, in the framework of the broader EU-Council of Europe joint Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal professionals (HELP). The overall objective of the HELP in the EU III is to enhance EU justice professionals’ capacities to effectively and coherently apply European fundamental rights standards at the national level through training, mainly referring to Council of Europe legal instruments and the EU framework.