Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye

Back Serbian legal professionals improve their knowledge on the European Court of Human Rights’ admissibility requirements

Mona ALGHAITH

Modified 13 Days ago.

Serbian legal professionals improve their knowledge on the European Court of Human Rights’ admissibility requirements

An online course on the “Admissibility criteria in applications submitted to the European Court of Human Rights” has brought together 36 lawyers and Constitutional Court advisors from Serbia to strengthen their understanding of the requirements applications must meet before reaching the Court.

The course, which was previously adapted to Serbian with support of the action “Strengthening human rights protection in Serbia”, is organised in co-operation of the action, the HELP Programme in the Western Balkans and the Serbian Bar Association’s Academy.

The aim of the course is to enable participants to understand the criteria governing the admissibility of applications submitted to the Court, as well as the procedure before the Court when determining the admissibility of an application. Through interactive modules, case studies and practical examples, the course iss tutored by Zorana Jadrijević Mladar, Serbian Government Agent before the Court, and Vladimir Marinkov, a lawyer with extensive knowledge of the Court's practice.

By strengthening participants’ understanding of admissibility requirements, the training will help Serbian legal professionals to better prepare and present cases to the European Court of Human Rights. This increased capacity is vital for ensuring that serious human rights concerns are duly considered and addressed within the European human rights system, thus advancing the protection of fundamental rights in Serbia.

The action “Strengthening human rights protection in Serbia” is implemented within the joint programme of the European Union and the Council of Europe “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye”.

Belgrade 12 May 2026

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What is the Horizontal Facility?

The joint European Union/Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye” (Horizontal Facility III) is a co-operation initiative and one of the results of the Statement of Intent signed on 1 April 2014 by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and the European Union Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, in which both Organisations agreed to further strengthen their co-operation in key areas of joint interest.

The programme is ongoing since 2016 and the third phase begun in January 2023 for a period of 48 months. The third phase of the programme (worth €41 million (85% funded by the EU, 15% by the CoE) keeps building on the results of the previous phases and it combines Beneficiary-specific and regional actions.

It enables the Beneficiaries to meet their reform agendas in the fields of human rights, rule of law and democracy and to comply with European standards, which is also a priority for the EU enlargement process.

Themes covered by the Horizontal Facility include:

strengthening justice
fighting corruption, economic crime and money laundering
promoting anti-discrimination and protection of the rights of vulnerable groups (including LGBTI, minorities and Roma) and
promoting and protecting freedom of expression and media

The Expertise Co-ordination Mechanism that provides legislative expertise and policy advice within the Council of Europe system remains also an important part of the programme available to all Beneficiaries.

The Horizontal Facility relies on the Council of Europe’s unique working methods, whereby tailor-made technical co-operation activities are based on conclusions and recommendations of the Council of Europe’s monitoring bodies highlight areas where improvements are needed in legislation and policies of the Beneficiaries to comply with the Organisation’s treaties and other standards.