Almost 40 lawyers and seconded officials from the Registry of the European Court of Human Rights were trained to become HELP certified tutors, during the HELP Training-of-Trainers session organised by the Council of Europe Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) in cooperation with the Registry of the European Court of Human Rights. The objective of the session was to empower the lawyers with the necessary practical and methodological skills to effectively implement HELP online tutored courses targeting legal professionals in their respective countries.

Training-of-Trainers session was opened by Eva Pastrana, Head of Justice and Human Rights Training Division of the Council of Europe, and Annie Armianova from the Human Resources and Logistic Division of the Registry of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Eva Pastrana highlighted the importance of the training of judges, prosecutors and lawyers on the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the case law of the ECtHR for the effective implementation of the ECHR at the domestic level, in line with the principle of subsidiarity. Annie Armianova emphasised the fruitful cooperation between the Registry of the European Court of Human Rights and the HELP Programme, including on the development and subsequent implementation of the HELP online courses. It was stressed that ECtHR Registry lawyers are very well placed to impart the first-hand knowledge on the ECHR gained through their work.

Following a general presentation of the HELP Programme, the participants were then introduced to the HELP online platform (hosting over 40 courses available in more than 350 language versions), as well as to the basics of the HELP training Methodology and the typical role of a HELP national tutor. During the session, the lawyers and seconded officials were trained on the technical aspects of the HELP online platform, including e-learning tools used by HELP tutors to enhance the e-learning experience of the HELP online courses. The ToT featured presentations from the HELP Secretariat on some of the latest or newly updated courses, including the courses on International Cooperation in Criminal Matters; Ethics for Judges, Prosecutors and Lawyers and Judicial Reasoning and Human Rights.

Successful participants to this Training-of-Trainers session will be included in the list of certified HELP tutors.