Back “HELP in the EU” cross border launch of the course Labour Rights as Human Rights

“HELP in the EU” cross border launch of the course Labour Rights as Human Rights

Under the EU-Council of Europe “HELP in the EU” Project, over 90 lawyers from Bulgaria, Greece and Poland met in Warsaw on 6 and 7 May 2019 for a seminar on labour law and the launch of the HELP course.

The seminar was held at the premises of the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights in Warsaw that hosted the event in cooperation with the Polish Association of Attorneys at Law and the Polish Bar Council. Alongside current challenges in the field of labour rights, the programme included sessions on European case law (mainly from the European Court of Human Rights, the Court of Justice of the EU but also from the European Social Rights Committee and the relevant European framework. 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 30 online courses. 

The Seminar started with opening speeches from Justyna Metelska, Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of the Polish Bar Council, Miroslaw Wroblewski, Polish Bar Association of Attorneys at Law and Anna Mazurczak from the Polish Bar Council. 

Adam Bodnar, the Polish Commissioner for Human Rights, gave a key note speech highlighting the current challenges in the field of labour rights and the importance of the work of lawyers in advancing the protection of these rights. He also mentioned the aspects in which the Office of the Ombudsman in Poland is involved and drew some conclusions in terms of the respect for European standards at national level.
Ana-Maria Telbis, coordinator of the EU-Council of Europe project "HELP in the EU" presented the HELP Programme, the EU-Council of Europe "HELP in the EU" project and the HELP course on Labour Rights as Human Rights

The morning session continued with a comprehensive overview of the E case-law on labour rights which impacted the national systems, bringing positive change, given by Aikaterini Lazana, senior lawyer at the Registry of the European Court of Human Rights. She explained the Court’s reasoning in several landmark cases related to access to work, austerity measures, discrimination at work and dismissal, health and safety, working time, pensions, and freedom of expression at work.

The afternoon session started with a presentation from Karol Kulig, lawyer specialized in labour law from Krakow, on the European Court of Human Rights- Court of Justice of the EU perspective on selected aspects related to labour rights, such as privacy protection at work, religious freedom and manifesting employee’s beliefs in a work place and equal pay.

Marcin Wujczyk, former member of the European Committee of Social Rights, gave an overview of the Committee’s work in the area of labour rights, referring to key case law developed in the field of social rights. 

Lukasz Pisarczyk from the Bar Association of Attorneys at Law and professor at the Warsaw University focused on the relationship between the European Social Charter and the EU law, showcasing some concrete examples which can be of use to participants in their daily work.

The participants were also introduced to the 3 national tutors who will accompany the groups in the implementation of the course for the following 3 months, namely Dilyana Giteva (Bulgaria), Maria Andriani Kostopoulou (Greece) and Karolina Kedziora (Poland). The tutors presented their respective national context and pinpointed some practical challenges in the field of labour rights, for participants to reflect upon and follow up in their exchanges during the course. The participants, most of them specialised in social and labour rights (either practicing lawyers or staff of the Ombudsman’s office) also had the possibility to share their expectations from the course and showed high motivation to contribute to the exchange of ideas and opinions on the online course pages opened for them. The participants who successfully complete the course launched under the joint EU-Council of Europe project will receive HELP certificates issued by the Council of Europe.

The HELP course on Labour Rights as Human Rights is also available to any legal professional interested in the topic, in the self-learning part of the HELP e-learning platform, in English, as well as in Greek, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Slovak and Spanish. The Bulgarian and Polish versions of the course will be made available publicly very soon.

 

Website: www.coe.int/help

warsaw 06-07/05/2019
  • Diminuer la taille du texte
  • Augmenter la taille du texte
  • Imprimer la page
social media

Browse www.coe.int/justice  Search  Follow