On 21-22 October 2019, Eastern Partnership countries’ training institutes for judges and prosecutors took part in a 2-day training of mentors’ programme organised by the Council of Europe. Through discussions and interactive experiential methods, the participants were made conversant with the mentoring methodology and key concepts and they increased their motivation and knowledge to apply Council of Europe human rights standards in a gender sensitive manner and specific Council of Europe gender equality standards.

This innovative Mentoring Programme for legal professionals aims at enhancing the continuous learning of the justice sector practitioners, specifically judges and prosecutors on guaranteeing equal access to justice for women and men in the Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine).

As one participant in the training course mentioned “our attitudes in the court to our citizens, women mainly, could help with ensuring full protection of human rights for all”. Therefore, facilitating spaces for reflection and professional development for legal practitioners will ensure a gender bias free justice for all.

The event was conducted by two Council of Europe experts, Zora Csalagovits and Elisabeth Duban, who combined their expertise on access to justice and educational methodologies in providing a step by step training course on what it means to be a mentor in a legal environment and how to facilitate the development of a gender sensitive justice systems by strengthening the value and attitudes of peer legal professionals.

The training of mentors was the first activity held in the framework of the regional PGG II project “Women’s Access to Justice: Delivering on the Istanbul Convention and other European gender equality standards“. It builds on practical resources for legal professionals developed under previous PGG regional projects on the topic of strengthening women’s access to justice.