On 11 May 2026, the Council of Europe HELP course “Environment and Human Rights” was launched for 40 Judges and prosecutors. The event was organised by the Council of Europe Project “HELP (Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals) for Ukraine, including during wartime” Phase II, in cooperation with the National School of Judges of Ukraine and the Training Center for Prosecutors of Ukraine.

The launch event brought together judges, prosecutors, lawyers, environmental law experts to discuss current challenges related to environmental protection and human rights in Ukraine, particularly in the context of the consequences of the Russian aggression and Ukraine’s European integration process.

Particular attention was paid to the use of open sources for documenting environmental damage caused by the Russian aggression and to procedural challenges in criminal proceedings concerning environmental crimes.

The HELP course “Environment and Human Rights” was adapted to the Ukrainian legal context and launched as a tutored course aimed at strengthening the capacity of judges and prosecutors  to apply European human rights standards in environmental matters. The course explores the intersection between environmental protection and human rights, focusing on relevant Council of Europe standards and ECtHR case law

The national HELP tutors will lead the group over the next three months: Ms Tamara Zakrevska, a Deputy Head of the Department of Training of Trainers of the National School of Judges of Ukraine and Ms Inna Berdnik, consultant at the Prosecutors' Training Center of Ukraine.

The HELP course “Environment and Human Rights” is also available in Ukrainian on the HELP Platform in self-learning format. New users to the HELP platform  will have to create an account before accessing this course or any of the 67 online courses available in self-learning format. Currently, 47 HELP courses are available in Ukrainian on the CoE HELP E-learning Platform, and the full catalogue of HELP courses is available here.