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Back HELP project in Ukraine strengthens cooperation with higher education institutions for training future lawyers

During the war, the legal profession is crucial because lawyers are entrusted with protecting human rights and freedoms. Training of future Ukrainian lawyers and their acquiring of skills to perform the new tasks during the war is a top priority for the new Council of Europe Project “HELP (Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals) for Ukraine including during wartime” (hereinafter – the Project).

HELP provides high-quality professional training and university education on human rights through HELP online courses focusing on the ECHR and case-law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the Revised European Social Charter, other key CoE instruments (Conventions and soft law), and since 2015, EU law and case-law of the Court of Justice of the EU.

HELP provides free online courses that can be easily accessible by registering on the web platform. The courses are developed on the basis of the expertise of the Council of Europe in the areas of its work. The courses are interactive and contain case scenarios, tests, and other exercises. The full catalog of courses is available at the link https://www.coe.int/en/web/help/courses

The Project team held a series of meetings in Kyiv with representatives of higher education institutions, as well as with Yevhen Kudryavets, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine for European Integration, and Oleksandr Pyzhov, Director General of the Directorate for European Integration, Budgeting and Policy Coordination of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. Yevhen Kudryavets expressed support for the Project and the introduction of HELP courses as a form of additional non-formal education in the curricula of higher education institutions that train future lawyers. The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine distributed a letter to directors of higher education institutions with a recommendation to introduce online HELP courses in the educational process and promote the dissemination of information about the courses among professors and students of legal specialties.

On April 18, more than 95 representatives of higher education institutions from different regions of Ukraine took part in the online presentation of the HELP Programme and courses, as well as the new Council of Europe Project and opportunities for cooperation with higher education institutions. At the opening of the presentation, Yevhen Kudryavets noted: "Today, professional training of future lawyers is an extremely important area of our work. We emphasize the need for specialists who will facilitate the rapid and effective integration of Ukraine in various spheres and areas. Owing to the Project and the Council of Europe, the use of HELP courses in the educational process allows for increasing the number of highly qualified specialists in studying the standards of the law of EU and Council of Europe, which will grow rapidly shortly”.

Alla Fedorova, international expert, HELP tutor, shared her experience implementing HELP courses at the Institute of International Relations of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.

In particular, university professors may encourage students to take courses within human rights curricula to obtain additional grades by students or to include HELP courses in academic programmes as a form of students` self-learning.

The implementation of HELP courses was also discussed with representatives of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, in particular with Andrii Hozhyk, Vice-Rector for Scientific and Pedagogical Work, and Taras Didych, Doctor of Law, Associate Professor.

Also, the Project met with Volodymyr Cherney, Rector of the National Academy of Internal Affairs (NAIA), and discussed introducing courses in the NAIA. In addition, the HELP Program, Project, and HELP courses were presented to representatives of NAIA departments.

The Council of Europe Office in Kyiv hosted a meeting of the Project with representatives of the International University of Science and Technology named after Yuriy Bugay, College of Finance and Law, Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics, and Kyiv International University.

Representatives of educational institutions expressed great interest in participating in training for trainers (ToT) and presential launches of various courses in their institutions.

In addition, the Project met with Yevhen Kotorobai, Chair of the Coordination Council for Young Lawyers. During the meeting, the Project representatives discussed cooperation to improve the skills of current/future lawyers in Ukraine for the effective application of European standards in the field of human rights,