The Council of Europe (CoE) - European Union (UE) Programme "HELP in the 28" organised the European Seminar on the "Fight against racism, xenophobia, homophobia and transphobia", in collaboration with the Spanish School for the Judiciary in Barcelona on 26 and 27 July.

More than 60 judges, prosecutors, lawyers and experts in the field actively participated, including representatives from the HELP Network, EJTN, CCBE, EQUINET bodies, NGOs and the EU Fundamental Rights Agency.

The objective of the Seminar was to analyse the phenomena of racism, xenophobia, homophobia and transphobia in Europe as well as the most effective legal ways to prevent and prosecute these heinous crimes. An important part of the Seminar was devoted to present the European legal system of the Council of Europe and the EU as well as the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the EU. The current European context of institutional crisis, terrorist attacks, high influx of migrants or refugees and rise of populism nationalist was brilliantly exposed by speakers such as the CoE Director of Human Rights in Directorate General I, Christos Giakoumopoulos, the Special Representative of the CoE Secretary General for migration and refugees Tomas Bocek and the first CoE Commissioner for Human Rights (1998-2006) Alvaro Gil-Robles.

In her opening remarks, the Director of the Spanish School for the Judiciary, Gema Espinosa Conde, highlighted the need to reinforce the cooperation between national and international institutions to train legal professional in human rights as a mean of better application of European legislation, stressing the relevance of the practical training tools provided by HELP. The "HELP in the 28 Programme", as well as its course against racism, xenophobia, homophobia and transphobia were presented to the audience, alongside the HELP/UNHCR course on asylum.

To access such courses, open a HELP account at http://help.ppa.coe.int/login/
And once logged in, click at http://help.ppa.coe.int/course/view.php?id=812

Last year, the first "HELP in the 28" European Seminar on Data Protection and Privacy Rights was organised at the premises of the Ecole Nationale de la Magistrature in Bordeaux. This autumn, the European Seminar on Labour Rights will take place on 26 - 27 September in Portoroz, Slovenia and the European Seminar on Right to the integrity of a person (Bioethics) on 6 - 7 October in Brussels, Belgium.

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