On 12 April 2017, the kick-off meeting for the launch of the second HELP/UNHCR course on Asylum and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) took place at the premises of the Law Faculty in the framework of the HELP in the Western Balkans and Turkey project. The event was attended by almost 50 participants (administrative judges, representatives of the Commissariat for Refugee and Migrations, law students and PhD candidates from the Belgrade Law Faculty).

The implementation of the HELP/UNCHR course for a second group of 25 participants started on 14 April 2017 and will be completed by the end of May. The course is available for participants in Serbian.

On the same occasion, a certificate award ceremony was organised for those who participated in the first pilot course (launched in Belgrade on 5 October 2016). The first group was composed of administrative judges, representatives of the Asylum Office and Commissariat for Refugees and Migration, NGOs lawyers providing for free legal aid.

The HELP/UNHCR course on Asylum and the ECHR was developed by an international group of experts in the field. By taking the course, participants will review the ECHR provisions and European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) case law providing protection for asylum seekers since the right to asylum is not enshrined within the ECHR:

• Prohibition of ill-treatment (Article 3 ECHR)
• Right to liberty and security (Article 5 ECHR)
• Freedom of movement (Article 2 Protocol 4 ECHR)
• Right to family life (Article 8 EHCR)
• Right to an effective remedy (Article 13 ECHR)

Serbia is the first country in the Western Balkans where the training tool is being rolled out. The course will be implemented in “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” in the forthcoming months.

The HELP/UNCHR course on Asylum and the ECHR is available to any user by creating an account on the HELP e-learning platform in several languages (English, French, Bulgarian, Flemish, Georgian, Greek, Spanish, Russian and Turkish).