In view of the forthcoming adoption of the Law on Personal Data Protection, the HELP course on Data Protection and Privacy Rights was launched for the benefit of 60 Macedonian lawyers. The event was organised in cooperation with the Bar Association of the Republic of North Macedonia, member of the HELP Network.

Participants were welcomed by Ljubomir Mihajlovksi, President of the Bar Association of the Republic of North Macedonia, who praised the cooperation with the Council of Europe HELP Programme and confirmed the commitment to provide lawyers with continuous education given their role in protecting human rights.

The HELP Progamme, its methodology and online courses as well as the completed and upcoming activities for lawyers, judges and prosecutors were presented to participants by the HELP Secretariat.

Moreover, Markiyan Bem, former lawyer at the European Court of Human Rights, provided participants with a general overview of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention) guarantees in relation to personal data protection, including a thorough analysis of compliance of data processing operations with Article 8 of the Convention.

Finally, the HELP National Tutors Jelena Ristik and Aleksandra Stojanovka Tasevska guided participants through the legal development in the area of data protection and privacy rights at international and national level.

Following the launching event, participants will take the course online over a 2-months period.

On the same occasion, a certificate ceremony for the successful completion of the HELP online course on Violence against women and domestic violence was organised. The HELP course was launched on 9 April for a group of 60 Macedonian lawyers.

The event was organised under the HELP in the Western Balkans project, funded by the Human Rights Trust Fund, in the framework of the Council of Europe Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP).

  Council of Europe HELP course on Data protection and privacy rights