On 10 October 2023, twenty-four lawyers from eighteen EU member states attended the launch of the Council of Europe HELP course the Environment and Human Rights.

The event was held at the premises of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg (France), 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 Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE).

The launch began with introductory remarks from Nikolaos Koutkias, Chair of the CCBE Training Committee and Eva Pastrana, Head of the Justice and Human Rights Training Division of the CoE. They welcomed the participants and acknowledged the synergies and long-term collaboration of the Human Rights Education for Legal Programmes (HELP) Programme and the CCBE. They also emphasised the richness of the courses available on the HELP Platform and their contribution to the training of legal professionals across the European Union and beyond.

Several interventions relevant for the topic of the course followed. Jean-Marc Gollier, Chair of the CCBE Environment and Climate Change Committee, talked about relevant practices across bar associations and law societies and about the CCBE’s initial statement on Climate Change.  Daniel Pap Secretary of the CoE CDDH-ENV (Steering Committee for Human Rights - Drafting Group on Human Rights and Environment) and Andrzej Mancewicz from the Office of the CoE’s Commissioner for Human Rights touched upon the many activities being carried at the CoE level in the field of the environment and human rights field.

They talked about the bodies under which they have direct responsibility, but also about the European Court of Human Rights, the European Committee on Social Rights and the CoE Committee of Ministers. They mentioned that a feasibility study on a new CoE instrument on human rights and the environment is currently being prepared; they also addressed the situation of environmental defenders and the implications of the Reykjavik Summit in the field.

Participants also carried out a visit to the European Court of Human Rights, where they were welcomed by Bianca Boji Tahvanainen and Eglantine Leblond, Lawyers with the Registry of the European Court of Human Rights. They learned about the functioning of the Court,the journey of the applications submitted before it, as well about the procedural requirements to respect. They also discussed about the case-law related resources made available by the Court in the field of the environment and human rights and were given an introduction to the Court’s Knowledge-Sharing Platform.

During the launch event, the participants also got acquainted with the HELP programme and its e-learning platform, which offers 49 courses on human rights. Furthermore, the group met its HELP tutors, international experts Malgorzata Kwiedacz-Palosz and Grazia Scocca. They talked to the participants 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 and the CCBE, will be awarded to those who successfully complete the course.

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The HELP course on the Environment and Human Rights  emphasises that the protection of the environment and the protection of human rights are interconnected: one cannot be achieved without the other, nor at the expense of the other. Life and well-being on our planet are contingent on our collective capacity to guarantee both human rights and a healthy environment to future generations.

This course covers in an interactive way the key concepts, the international and European legal framework and case law and practical approaches that will support legal practitioners and others in understanding the connections between human rights and the environment, in particular how to apply a human rights-based approach to environmental protection. It touches, among others, on the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights and the case-law of the European Committee of Social Rights.

This free on-line HELP course is primarily addressed to legal professionals (judges, prosecutors, lawyers). However civil servants, policy makers, members of civil society, other professionals, and university students dealing with environmental issues and their impact on the enjoyment of fundamental rights will also find this course useful. The course does not require any previous knowledge in the topic.

The course was published in 2021. It was developed under the Project “Online Platform for Business and Human Rights”, implemented by the HELP programme in cooperation with the Council of Europe Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH), funded by the Dutch and German authorities.

The course has a duration of 6 hours, is available in self-learning format in 8 languages and upon completion users can generate their electronic Statements of Accomplishment, in proof of their acquired knowledge and skills. 

The course has been developed alongside the updated HELP Course on Business and Human Rights. These two courses are intended as complementary resources that can be taken together or separately.

HELP courses are 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.