Such unique cross-border ‘HELP in the 28’ course was launched in Brno in collaboration with both the Slovakian and Czech Bar, and attended by more than thirty lawyers from both countries. 

The event - hosted in the Brno premises of the Public Defender’s Office on 13.1.17- was opened by the Deputy President of the Czech Bar Association, Petr Polednik, and the Slovakian HELP Info Point, Michaela Chladekova, both of whom highlighted the relevance of HELP. Czech lawyers had already benefitted from the HELP course on “Admissibility criteria” in 2013. The newest version of that course, as well as the one on Introduction to the European Human Rights Convention (ECHR) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) is accessible here to anyone who opens a HELP account at http://help.elearning.ext.coe.int/login/

Miroslav Chlipala, Slovakian lawyer and expert on data protection, explained the legal framework, both at national and European level from the Slovak and Czech perspective. He described key case of the Court of Justice of the European Union, and challenged participants to reflect on the practical implementation of the EU Reform adopted in April 2016, and to act in a collegial way to better protect those fundamental rights.

Czech HELP Info Point and tutor of the course, Jiri Novak, in a complementary fashion, provided a historical overview since the adoption of the ECHR in 1950 to nowadays, highlighting the role of Convention 108. By referring to ECtHR jurisprudence, he confirmed the evolving conception of data protection and privacy rights in Europe and the usefulness for lawyers to invoke European case law in their daily work.

A roundtable ensued where participants revealed their diverse profiles and experience regarding data protection.

The Czech course on Data Protection and Privacy Rights has been developed within the “HELP in the 28”, a EU-funded Programme implemented by the Council of Europe using its HELP methodology. ‘HELP in the 28’, which was presented in detail, is actually the largest training project within the EU on fundamental rights for judges, prosecutors and lawyers.

The course in Czech will be available and for free in late spring 2017. In the meantime, you can access its English version here and watch this video presenting the course.