On 19 December 2023, over 50 Greek and Bulgarian lawyers attended the launch of the Council of Europe HELP course on Violence against Women and Domestic Violence.

The cross-border event, held in Athens (Greece), was organised in the framework of the EU-CoE project “HELP in the EU III”, funded under the European Union’s Justice Programme (2021-2027). The event was organised by the Council of Europe (CoE), in collaboration with the Athens Bar that hosted the event and the Bulgarian Bar.

The event was moderated by Thomas Kamenopoulos, Member of the Board of the Athens Bar, former Vice-President and Oana Girlescu, EU-CoE Help in the EU III Project Coordinator. It began with introductory remarks from Dimitrios Vervesos, President of the Athens Bar, Ivaylo Dermendzhiev, President of Bulgarian Bar and Boriana Musseva, Lawyer and Head of the International Law and International Relations Department of the Faculty of Law of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”

They acknowledged the relevance of the topic of the course for the attending lawyers, given the pervasiveness of gender-based discrimination and violence against women in both Greece and Bulgaria. They also emphasised the significant contribution of the Human Rights Education for Legal Programmes (HELP) Programme in the human rights training for lawyers in both countries, over the years. Thomas Kamenopoulos talked about the other eight launches of HELP courses organised in partnership with the Athens Bar in recent years. Ivaylo Dermendzhiev emphasised the continuous collaboration between the Bulgarian and Greek Bars, expressing interest in further collaboration with the Council of Europe on training matters, particularly related to legal aid systems.

Several interventions relevant for the topic of the course followed.  Katerina Spanou, Judge at the Athens Administrative Court of First Instance and formerly seconded at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and Oana Girlescu, EU-CoE HELP in the EU III Project Coordinator and former case-processing lawyer at the ECtHR talked about the case-law of the ECtHR related to violence against women and domestic violence. They referred to cases such as Opuz v. Turkey (2009),  Kurt v. Austria (2021) and G.M. and Others v. the Republc of Moldova (2022).

Maria Doncheva, Vice President and Judge at the Sofia Regional Court and HELP certified tutor talked about Bulgaria’s response to ECtHR cases on the discussed matter. She focused on Y. v. Bulgaria (2020) and A. E. v. Bulgaria (2023), expressing hope for the national body specialised on domestic violence that is to start functioning in Bulgaria on 1 January 2024. Boriana Musseva, PhD, Lawyer at the Sofia Bar Association and Head of the International Law and International Relations Department of the Faculty of Law of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” talked about the cross-border recognition and enforcement of protection measures under EU Regulation 606/2013, referring as well to other EU instruments relevant for child-care cases.

Deta Petroglou, Lawyer and member of the European Equality Legal Network discussed sexual harassment at work as a form of violence against women and discrimination on grounds of sex. She focused on EU instruments and case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, mentioning as well the relevance of the Istanbul Convention and of the International Labour Organisation. Maria Andriani Kostopoulou, HELP tutor and President of the Council of Europe Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO), presented the functioning and the monitoring work of GREVIO, as well as the HELP course on Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, which was developed with GREVIO’s support.  

During this launch event, the participants also got acquainted with the HELP programme and its online platform, which offers more than 45 courses on human rights. Furthermore, the two groups met their respective HELP tutors, Maria Andriani Kostopoulou for the Greek group and Dilyana Giteva (lawyer) and Tomislav Toshkov (lawyer and HELP Info Point) for the Bulgarian group. They talked to the participants about violence against women in Greece and Bulgaria, about their background and interests and provided some insights into the matters to be approached during the course.

The tutors will provide the participants with support and guidance during the following weeks. After the launch event, all participants have been registered on the dedicated course page and are now ready to start the tutored course. HELP certificates, issued by the Council of Europe, the Athens Bar and the Bulgarian Bar, will be awarded to those who successfully complete the course.

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The HELP course on Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence recognises that violence against women is a grave violation of human rights and a form of discrimination against women. Violence against women, including domestic violence, occurs in every Council of Europe member state and beyond, despite some positive developments in law, policies and practices.

This HELP course for legal professionals (judges, prosecutors and lawyers primarily) covers in an interactive way the key concepts, the international and European legal framework and case law governing the prevention and protection of women and girls from violence, focusing in particular on the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention) and incorporating other CoE legal instruments and elements of EU law. Furthermore, the course provides the legal professionals with practical tools for dealing with cases of violence against women and domestic violence with respect to a human rights and victim centred approach.

This course was developed jointly by the Equality and Human Dignity Department, Violence Against Women Division and the HELP Programme of the Council of Europe. The course is available on the Council of Europe HELP e-learning platform, in self-learning format, in English, as well as in several other languages. The access to the courses is free, open and self-paced for interested professionals who have a HELP account (or create one by using this link). The length of the course is of twelve (12) hours and those who complete it can generate a personalised electronic Statement of Accomplishment. A shorter version (6 hour) of the HELP course on Violence against Women and Domestic Violence for law enforcement is also available.

The course is intended, in the long term, to become an integral part of the overall learning curricula of the national training institutions and/or other competent authorities of the CoE member states and beyond.