On 19 February 2021, the HELP Programme, with the support of the United Kingdom Government and the Cyprus Bar Association, launched the national adaptation of the course on Introduction to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the European Court of Human Rights for lawyers in Cyprus. Yet another 140 lawyers were enrolled for the distance learning on the HELP Platform and in the upcoming weeks those who complete it shall receive their well-earned credits. They will be awarded with a Certificate of completion after passing the national version of the course prepared by the certified tutors.
It is undisputable that the ECHR remains a unique mechanism to secure protection of human rights in Europe and beyond. It is the only international mechanism providing tools for effective execution of human rights judgements and national implementation in the domestic legal orders of the Council of Europe member States (MS). Currently, following the reforms under the Protocols no. 14, 15 and 16, the Convention has been reshaped into a complex machinery with genuine human rights adjudication and binding force of the judgments.
The present course reflects this evolution. It was developed in 2016, covering only the adjudication part of the ECHR mechanism. As of March 2020, the updated version now includes a module on Execution of the Judgments of the ECtHR. The current version of the course helps to understand the Convention machinery better and from different angles.
This was the topical idea expressed throughout the opening speeches by all invitees, distinguished guests and participants. Speaking on behalf of Cyprus Bar Association, Nicolas Tsardellis, a lawyer and HELP certified tutor himself, noted in premier the great interest expressed by lawyers in Cyprus in the present course and the HELP Platform overall. Sam Morgan, Head of Political Section in the British High Commission in Nicosia, reiterated the UK commitments to provide support for the Cypriot lawyers and legal professionals to use the HELP courses at large for their professional development. He mentioned the many similarities of the legal mentality and legal traditions between Cyprus and the UK and highlighted the important role of the CoE to support independent, efficient and resilient judicial systems in its MS. This commitment was confirmed by Eva Pastrana, Head of the HELP Unit, who then presented the Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) Programme and, in particular, some of its leading courses that could be of a particular interest for the Cypriot lawyers in their current and future endeavours.
Anna Stepanova, Head of Division at the Registry of the European Court of Human Rights, shared her valuable experience in developing the updated version of this course and presented the Convention system from the view of an insider. Professor of law at the University of Cyprus, Costas Paraskeva, an experienced author of the HELP courses himself, spoke about the course and the Convention from the national perspective, underlining how the European Court’s case-law has impacted the Cyprus legal system and how in turn the Court benefited from the Cyprus cases.
These ideas provided sufficient background for the discussions and questions at the next sessions of the launch event destined to present the national version of the course on the HELP Platform. These were lead and moderated by Maria-Andriani Kostopoulou, Katerina Athienitis, and Vasilis Bissas, certified HELP tutors for this particular course, highly experienced legal professionals and practicing lawyers, including in the Convention system. Lilian Apostol, on behalf of the HELP Programme closed the event saying that it is a rather good start for new learning perspectives and challenges for all participants. He wished them all good luck and reiterated the support provided by HELP to all its platform users.
And again, this event confirmed that Cypriot legal professional community is prepared to embrace largely the European human rights standards and the Convention system. Many questions were raised concerning various legal problems and issues occurring in the daily activity of lawyers in Cyprus. They all seek answers in the European Court’s case-law and the Execution system of its the judgments, which is a good sign. The present course is an important guiding instrument towards finding some of those answers on the HELP platform.
