The committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted on 16 October 2019 the Recommendation CM/Rec (2019)5 on the system of the European Convention on Human Rights in university education and professional training. This is the key CM Recommendation stressing the fundamental role played by university education and professional training in the Convention system for preventing violations and promoting human rights. The recommendation reinforces the Council of Europe Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) Programme’s mandate and its contribution to human rights training in Europe.
Following this Recommendation, a meeting and a training-of-trainers (ToT) session was organised in İstanbul on 4 December 2019 in cooperation with the University of İstanbul Kültür, Faculty of Law; The purpose of the event was to establish cooperation links between the HELP Programme and the University of İstanbul Kültür Faculty of Law, and expanding the pool of Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) certified trainers in Turkey. This event was also the first HELP ToT session among Universities in Turkey.
The HELP pool of trainers will be available for implementation of HELP courses on a wide range of human rights topics; supporting the training needs for judges and prosecutors, trainee judges and prosecutors and assistant judicial staff at the national level and in cooperation with the respective national institutions. Certified trainers will be able to implement courses developed by the HELP programme of the Council of Europe. These courses are also available online in the HELP e-learning platform as self-learning resources, free for all legal professionals.
The participants of the ToT included four academics from a variety of departments from the Faculty of Law, in particular the department of Administrative Law, represented by Dr. Elif Altınok Çalışkan, Deputy Dean of the University of İstanbul Kültür, Faculty of Law; Serkan Seyhan, HELP contact point in the University of İstanbul Kültür and a lawyer from İstanbul Bar Association Ekin Akmanoğlu, HELP former trainee.
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Bahri Öztürk, Dean of the University of İstanbul Kültür, Faculty of Law, opened the event and welcomed the participants; and they subsequently received a detailed introduction to the HELP Programme, its methodology, the HELP e-learning online platform and its courses by Muhammed Taha Büyüktavşan, rapporteur Judge at the Department of Human Rights within the Minister of Justice, currently seconded as Senior Project Coordinator within the HELP. He also presented the expertise of HELP Programme and its large selection of online course dealing with Human Rights issues and engaged with the participants on the role and function of HELP tutors.
After the completion of their specific assignments, the participants will be certified by the HELP Programme and ready to act as national tutors of HELP courses; furthermore, all certified tutors will be included in the roster of HELP trainers which is available on the HELP website.
Following the meeting and training of trainers’ session, the HELP online course on the “Introduction to the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights” will be organised for academics and students in cooperation with the Faculty of Law of İstanbul Kültür University, with further links and events between the HELP Programme and the University of İstanbul Kültür envisioned.
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