In the coming weeks, 60 lawyers from Kosovo* will have the opportunity to increase their knowledge and skills on Property Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights, following the launch of Council of Europe HELP online course, in co-operation with the Bar association.

Organised under the joint EU and Council of Europe ‘HELP in the Western Balkans’ action, this course will be moderated by Agron Beka, HELP tutor, who will assist participants in the process of familiarising themselves with the legal European standards applicable, in relation to Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the extensive case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

Tankut Soykan, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Pristina, opened the launching event by thanking all the participants for their participation, interest and commitment. He emphasized the importance of this initiative for the effective access to the right to property.

Albulena Ukimeraj, speaking on behalf of the Bar Association of Kosovo and Eva Pastrana, Head of Justice and Human Rights Training Division in the Council of Europe, also congratulated the professionals for their interest and involvement while reminding of the potentials of the HELP courses for the benefit of the legal community.

The HELP course on Property Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights is available also for autonomous, self-learning, in English, Albanian, Azerbaijani, Bosnian, Macedonian and Serbian. After its completion, a user can generate and print out the so-called HELP statement of accomplishment.

This event is supported in the framework “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022” programme, a co-operation initiative of the European Union and Council of Europe that is supporting beneficiary-tailored reform processes in the areas of rule of law, democracy and human rights with the aim for its beneficiaries to comply with European standards.

*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.