On 18 and 19 October, 45 judges, prosecutors, lawyers and court staff from Spain and Romania attended the launch of the HELP course on Fight against Racism, Xenophobia, Homophobia, Transphobia.

The cross-border event, held at the premises of the School for Judges of the Spanish General Council of the Judiciary in Barcelona, was organised within the framework of the EU-CoE project “HELP in the EU III”. The event was funded under the European Union’s Justice Programme (2021-2027).

The launch started with an opening speech held by Tais Deus Ramos, Professor of Constitutional and EU Law, Focal Point of the HELP Programme, and Representative of the General Council of Spanish Lawyers.

Participants were also welcomed by Eva Pastrana, Head of the Justice and Human Rights Training Division for the Council of Europe, who presented the EU funded project and introduced the participants to the updated edition of the HELP course on Fight against Racism, Xenophobia, Homophobia, Transphobia.

The participants got familiarised with the Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) Programme of the Council of Europe and its e-learning platform containing more than 45 online courses.

A lecture on Hate Crime prosecution in Barcelona, by Professor Tais Deus Ramos, closed the first day, followed by exchanges with participants highlighting differences at national level of tacking similar cases, with administrative, civil or criminal instruments.

The second day started with an overview of current challenges of Spanish and Romanian systems, presented in a comparative perspective by the two course tutors: Jorge Jiménez Martín, Director of the Spanish Judicial School, and Roxana Rizoiu, Trainer at National Institute of Magistracy and HELP Focal Point for Romania. Exchanges ensued, with the clear conclusion of the need for further legal training to combat racism, xenophobia and LGBTI-phobia.

The seminar ended with a session split by national groups, where participants had the opportunity to openly exchange with their respective tutor, sharing their background and expectations from the course as well as expressing their ideas, opinions or doubts.

After a clarification of their own role, the tutors provided the attendees with detailed information on the course structure, the learning objectives and some aspects of its implementation.

Following the online launch event, all participants will be enrolled on the dedicated course pages and start the tutored course. Those among them who successfully complete the course will receive HELP certificates issued by the Council of Europe.

The updated HELP course “Fight against Racism, Xenophobia, Homophobia and Transphobia” covers in an interactive way the key concepts, the European (CoE and EU) non-discrimination law, the impressive body of case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), in addition to decisions of the European Committee of Social Rights. One of the key reference materials to develop this course has been the Handbook on European non-discrimination law prepared jointly by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency and the European Court of Human Rights.

The online course is available on the Council of Europe HELP e-learning platform, in self-learning format, in several languages (English, French, Azerbaijani, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Greek, Montenegrin, Polish, Romanian, Spanish), it takes 6 hours to complete and participants who finalise the course can generate an electronic Statement of Accomplishment.