The Bar Council of Ukraine has officially accredited all Ukrainian language HELP courses for lawyers working within the free legal aid system.

This decision was made by the Bar Council of Ukraine on 8 February.

In accordance with clause 21-1 of the Procedure for Advanced Training of Lawyers in Ukraine, approved by the decision of the Bar Council of Ukraine dated 03.07.2021 No. 63, lawyers who have submitted information on inclusion in the Register of Lawyers Providing Free Secondary Legal Aid (FSLA) or have concluded a contract or contracts for the provision of FSLA must receive at least two credits of training on free legal aid.

From now on, the certificates of completion of the Council of Europe online courses on the HELP E-learning Platform will enable lawyers working with the free legal aid system to receive 2 credit points for completing of each HELP course.

The relevant amendments to the Procedure were proposed during a meeting of the Bar Council of Ukraine by Valentyn Hvozdiy, Vice President of the Ukrainian National Bar Association and the Bar Council of Ukraine. A week before, a working meeting was held in Strasbourg with the team of the Council of Europe Project “HELP (Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals) for Ukraine including during wartime”.

It is also planned to create a working group that will study the best practices of Ukrainian lawyers who have experience and willingness to conduct special training courses on free legal aid.

"The initiative of the Bar Council of Ukraine to accredit HELP courses for the professional development of lawyers providing free legal aid is a very good example of introducing HELP courses on a sustainable basis.  HELP courses are very popular among lawyers in Ukraine, with 11799 Ukrainian lawyers registered on the HELP Platform, putting Ukraine on the third place according to the number of users among all Council of Europe member states," said Ana-Maria Telbis, acting Head of Justice and Human Rights Training Division, Department for the implementation of Human Rights, Justice and Legal Co-operation Standards, Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law (DGI), Council of Europe.

"This is a training programme, which implements a lot of activities. 33 courses have been already translated into Ukrainian. Among them are those dedicated to legal aid," said Valentyn Hvozdiy. "For our situation, the courses on hate crimes, human rights in the armed forces and others may be of particular interest. The courses are available on the HELP website and the Ukrainian lawyers can study remotely."

The HELP Platform is the Council of Europe's main educational programme for legal professionals, which aims to train judges, prosecutors and lawyers, as well as other relevant professionals, on European human rights standards. HELP courses enhance the knowledge of legal professionals on key human rights topics and thus contribute to better protection of human rights at the national level.

In addition to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the HELP Programme covers other Council of Europe instruments. In addition, with the support of the EU since 2015, HELP online courses also cover the EU legal framework, including the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Currently, 33 HELP courses are available in Ukrainian on the CoE HELP E-learning Platform, and the full catalogue of HELP courses is available here.  The following courses were the most popular last year among Ukrainian lawyers: "Introduction to the ECHR and the ECtHR", "Admissibility criteria", "Labour Rights as Human Rights", "Ethics for judges, prosecutors and lawyers", "Transitional Justice and Human Rights”, “Introduction to the European Social Charter”, “Internal Displacement”, “International Cooperation in Criminal Matters”, “Children`s Rights - Key Challenges” and “Human Rights in the Armed Forces”.

The CoE HELP online courses are freely accessible, self-paced, and those who complete them can obtain their electronic Statements of Accomplishment in proof of their acquired knowledge and skills.