An updated version of the most popular Council of Europe HELP course, the course Introduction to the European Convention on Human Right and the European Court of Human Rights, is now available on the HELP online platform.
“Europe has the strongest system of international human rights protection anywhere in the world, thanks to the European Convention on Human Rights.
“For the system to fulfil its potential, we need lawyers, judges, government officials, NGOs and other professionals across Europe to learn how it functions and to use that knowledge in their daily work,” said Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić.
The Council of Europe HELP course Introduction to the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights is aimed precisely at providing this necessary knowledge.
For the first time, this course includes an entirely new Module on the Execution of the Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.
The course was updated in close cooperation with the Council of Europe Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. A senior lawyer from the Registry of the European Court of Human Rights also contributed to the course update.
This version of the course was produced partly in co-operation with the action “Strengthening the effective legal remedies to human rights violations in Serbia”, implemented under the European Union and Council of Europe Joint Programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey II”.
Background and aim
The European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention), is an international treaty that protects human rights and fundamental freedoms across the 47 member States of the Council of Europe. It was the first instrument to give effect to certain of the rights stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and make them binding.
The European Court of Human Rights (the Court) is the main organ of the Convention. Its task is to ensure that state parties respect the rights and guarantees set out in the Convention and its Additional protocols.
The Committee of Ministers, an organ of the Council of Europe, is tasked with supervising the execution of the final judgments of the Court in any case to which they are parties.
Thus, the system established by the Convention is the only one at international level that provides such a high level of protection for individuals.
The primary responsibility for implementation of the Convention rests with the national authorities. To be able to implement it, the domestic actors need to have knowledge on the Convention and on the Court and its manner of working.
Course structure
The course is composed of an introductory and 3 substantive modules. The overall length of the course is approximately five hours.
Introductory Module: welcome message; navigation instruction; course authors; course target group
Module 1: Introduction to the European Convention on Human Rights
- Structure of the European Convention on Human Rights
- Interpreting the European Convention on Human Rights
- The European Convention on Human Rights within the national legal order
Module 2: Introduction to the European Court of Human Rights
- Structure of the European Court of Human Rights
- The life of an application before the European Court of Human Rights
Module 3: Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights
- Introduction to the module
- Execution of the European Court of Human Rights judgments
- Supervision of the execution of the European Court of Human Rights judgments
The updated course is now available in English on the HELP online platform and it will soon be available in other languages.
Introduction video to the Council of Europe HELP course Introduction to the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights.
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