In the framework of the project Reinforcing the capacity of the judiciary to apply European human rights standards at the national level in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the HELP courses on Transitional Justice and Reasoning of Criminal Judgments were launched in cooperation with the Judicial and Prosecutorial Training Centre of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Meetings were attended by 35 legal professionals appointed by the Training Centre. The group was composed of legal advisors and judges from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina dealing both with civil and criminal cases. Members of the Woking Groups in charge of the development of the courses delivered presentations on the content, while national tutors provided more information about the national context and the practical implementation of the course. Both courses will be implemented in the national language.

The course on Transitional Justice and Human Rights is composed of 8 modules (Introduction to Transitional Justice, Basics of prosecutions of War Crimes, Investigations, Cooperation with other authorities, Fair trail guarantees, Witness protection, Principle of legality and Rights of the victims). The aim is to enhance legal professionals’ skills in applying the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in specific circumstances of Transitional Justice. The course on Transitional Justice is available in English and in Bosnian on the HELP e-learning platform.

The course on Reasoning of Criminal Judgments has been designed to address the needs of judges who, in their National Courts are required to reference to judgments and case-law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECthR). It is composed of 6 modules (right to fair trial under Article 6 ECHR, reasoning of criminal judgments in the context of Articles 2 and 3, reasoning of criminal judgments in the context of Article 5 ECHR, reasoning of criminal judgments in the context of Article 8 ECHR, reasoning of criminal judgments in the context of Article 10 ECHR, Article 6 ECHR and non-attendance). The course is available in English and will available shortly in Bosnian.