Eighteen judges, prosecutors and members of academia (12 women and 6 men) from six EU countries (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Ireland, Portugal, Romania and Spain) participated in a HELP Training-of-Trainers (ToT) session organised in Lisbon on 7 and 8 May 2018 and hosted by the Center of Judicial Studies (CEJ).

The event aimed at equipping them with the necessary practical skills to effectively implement HELP online courses in their countries of origin and was organised under the EU-funded project "HELP in the EU", under which several launch events for HELP courses will be organised in the coming months. The key partners of the project are the Romanian Institute for Magistracy as well as the Spanish Judiciary School and the Spanish Bar General Council.

The training session was opened by Justice João Manuel da Silva Miguel, CEJ Director and Judge Diogo Ravara, HELP Focal Point for Portugal. CEJ Director referred to the creation of the HELP Programme and his contribution as Portuguese expert crafting the Committee of Ministers Recommendation (2004) on the European Convention on Human Rights and university education and professional training.

Following the general presentation on the Council of Europe HELP Programme and the basics of the HELP training methodology, the participants were introduced to the practical information on effectively fulfilling all functions of a HELP tutor and on the effective use the HELP online platform, hosting all HELP online courses. They could also benefit from a presentation on the HELP course on Combatting Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, introduced by Helena De Carvalho Martins Leitão, Head of CEJ International Relations Department and Member of the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence of the Council of Europe

Rafael Bustos Gisbert, HELP Focal Point for Spain and HELP tutor, shared his experience on the successful implementation of HELP courses in Spain. Portuguese Focal Point, Diogo Ravara, presented the national version of the HELP course on labour rights developed previously under the EU-funded "HELP in the 28" project.

The participants who have taken part in this training session and who will complete their assignment will become HELP certified trainers, allowing them to use the resources and the online platform for tutoring HELP courses. They will be added to the pool of HELP certified trainers, publicly available on the HELP website. The ToT session comes to consolidate a rich network of HELP certified tutors in EU countries and thus contribute to the enhancement of European Human Rights standards in the EU and the use of HELP courses to train legal professionals across the EU member states. It also builds up on HELP’s previous project ‘HELP in the 28’, as some of the participants to the ToT session are former participants who have successfully completed HELP courses under this project.

• HELP online platform