The Council of Europe HELP online course on Freedom of Expression was launched for three groups of participants from Poland, Romania and Spain.
On 2 November 2021, the Polish version of the Freedom of Expression course was launched in co-operation with the Polish Bar Council and the National Council of Attorneys at law.
The online launching event was opened by Natalia Klima-Piotrowska, Head of the Human Rights Commission of the Polish Bar Council, Michał Korwek, Vice-President of the National Council of Attorneys at law (KIRP) and Bartłomiej Tkacz, Chairman of the Human Rights Committee in KIRP. The course participants could also benefit from an intervention from Szymon Janczarek, lawyer at the Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.
The course will be tutored by Miroslaw Wroblewski, HELP national tutor.
The launch of the course for Romanian lawyers took place on 16 November, in cooperation with the National Institute for the Training of Lawyers and the National Union of Bars. Raluca Bercea, HELP Info Point for Romania, welcomed the participants and explained some aspects related to the implementation of European standards at national level. Cesare Pitea, from the Information Society Department of the Council of Europe, introduced the group to the HELP online course on Freedom of Expression. The participants will be assisted by Raluca Bercea and Sorina Doroga, HELP national tutors, in the implementation of the course.
The course was also launched in Spain on 16 November for a group of judges, prosecutors and lawyers, co-organised by the Spanish Judicial School, in cooperation with the General Prosecutors Office (Fiscalía General del Estado) and the Spanish National Bar (CGAE). Representatives from the three institutions- Jorge Jiménez (Director of the Judicial School), Victoria Ortega (President of CGAE) and Elsa García-Maltrás (General Prosecutor´s Office) welcomed the participants. The subject was introduced by Prof. Rafael Bustos, Constitutional law Professor and former HELP Focal Point, who addressed the high relevance of freedom of expression in the current COVID-19 context, highlighting the limitations to it. Participants also learned about the course format and content from the HELP national tutor, Roberto Alonso.
The three versions of this course will be implemented until the end of 2021. Successful participants will be certified jointly by the Council of Europe and the respective national partner institutions.
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The updated version of the course on Freedom of Expression was developed in 2020 by the Council of Europe Information Society Department, in cooperation with the Council of Europe HELP Programme (Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals) and within the framework of action on “Freedom of Expression and Freedom of the Media in South-East Europe (JUFREX)”, implemented under the European Union and Council of Europe Joint Programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey II (2019-2022)”.
The length of the course is approximately 9 hours of e-learning. It is composed of the following modules:
Module 1: Introduction and key principles. Freedom of expression in International law. Key concepts. Restrictions. Positive obligations. Abuse of Freedom of expression. Redress for violations.
Module 2: Types of speech protected under Article 10. Privacy and defamation.
Module 3: Media regulation. Freedom of expression online. Freedom of expression and elections. Protection of sources. Information received in confidence.
Module 4: Access to information. Freedom of expression and protest. Freedom of expression and administration of justice. Freedom of expression in the workplace. Freedom of expression and religion.
It is currently available on the HELP online platform, for autonomous, self-learning, in these languages:
The Polish, Spanish and Romanian versions will also become available on the HELP online Platform for self-learning, following the pilot tutored course editions.
Once a user completes the HELP online course for self-learning, she/he can print out the so-called HELP ‘statement of accomplishment’.
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