The European Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) course on “Asylum and European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)” was launched online on 4 March for the first group of lawyers from Bursa Bar Association. The online event brought together 40 lawyers of the Bursa Bar Association with the tutor of the course, the representatives of the HELP platform and the action team.

In their opening speeches, both the President of the Bursa Bar Association Mr. Gürkan ALTUN and the Head of Ankara Programme Office of the Council of Europe Mr. Cristian URSE highlighted the importance of the course for the lawyers, having in mind the high number of migrants in the country. The head of the HELP Unit Ms. Eva PASTRANA emphasised that Turkey was one of the countries with highest number of users on the HELP platform and that this number was increasing every day.

The coordinators of the action and representatives of the HELP Secretariat gave a general overview of the courses offered by the HELP online platform and provided in the framework of the action. It was also stated that due to the high demand for HELP Courses, several launches and virtual classes were to be organised for the lawyers of the Bursa Bar Association, for all six courses provided by the action, namely “Alternatives to Immigration Detention”, “CPT Standards”, “Prohibition of Ill-Treatment”, “Refugee and Migrant Children” and “Child Friendly Justice”.

The tutor of the HELP course presented its content and demonstrated how to access and effectively use the platform and how to interact with the tutor and other participants in the virtual class. She also informed the participants that they would receive a HELP certificate upon successful completion.

The HELP Course on “Asylum and ECHR” covers the key provisions of the European Convention of Human Rights and the related case-law of the European Court of Human Rights which are particularly relevant for asylum-seekers and refugees. As one of the participants stated during the meeting, “HELP Courses were very useful, effective and informative” and are expected to improve legal professionals´ knowledge of the Turkish law and practice as well as of the case-law of the European Court in relation to protection of asylum-seekers.

The course was provided within the framework of the action “Strengthening the human rights protection of migrants and victims of human trafficking in Turkey”, part of the joint European Union/Council of Europe Programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022”.

HELP courses are accessible for free on the HELP online platform.