The European Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) of the Council of Europe gathered representatives from Judiciary Schools and Bar Councils from the CoE member States.

Deputy Secretary General Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni addressed the opening highlighting that HELP is the only network that contributes across all 47 of our member states to the up-skilling of legal professionals on human rights and that its courses reflect Council of Europe’s work in tackling the persistent challenges affecting our continent. DSG underlined the contribution of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to the quality of HELP courses and called the members of the Network to pursue their engagement in the rolling out of courses at national level.

PACE President Michele Nicoletti presented the idea of academic networks on the Council of Europe connecting legal professionals and academia to promote knowledge on key CoE conventions amongst these communities.

Linos-Alexandre Sicilianos, Vice-president of the European Court of Human Rights spoke about the reform and current challenges in the work of the European Court of Human Rights. Thanks to Protocol 16, the ECtHR is ready to guide Superior Courts of the CoE countries in the interpretation and application of rights and freedoms recognised by the ECHR. He also stressed the role of the CoE’s HELP Programme and its courses for legal professionals in improving implementation of the ECHR and effectiveness of the system.