From 30 June - 1 July 2022, The Council of Europe Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (JHELP) programme held its Annual Network Conference focusing on Council of Europe’s response to the war in Ukraine. The conference participants discussed why and how to train legal professionals in times of war with representatives of National School of Judges of Ukraine, Prosecutor’s Training Centre of Ukraine and of the Ukrainian National Bar Association’s High School for Advocates. The Council of Europe representatives explained what immediate support the Organisation has given to Ukraine. One example of such support is the virtual Asylum/Migration HELP e-Desks launched by the HELP Programme days after the start of the war, on 1 March 2022. It aims to help lawyers from the most affected countries dealing with refugees from Ukraine (Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and Moldova) access necessary information, as well as to train legal professionals to effectively handle cases at national level. There are currently more than 105,000 users of the Council of Europe HELP e-learning platform, the top five countries in terms of the number of users being Türkiye, France, Italy, Spain, and Ukraine.
Newsletter - June - July
Mandate
The Division on Migration and Refugees (DMR) was created at the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law (DG1) on 1 February 2025 to follow-up on the action by the former Special Representative of the Secretary General on Migration and Refugees. Its mandate includes suggesting assistance and support to member states, particularly through the Network of Focal Points on Migration, seeking, collecting and analysing information on the human rights situation of migrants and refugees, as well as complementing and co-ordinating activities of other relevant Council of Europe bodies and our action with other international partners, notably the UNHCR, IOM, EU, and its specialised agencies, and other national, regional and international stakeholders, including civil society organisations. The DMR represents the Council of Europe in the UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award Selection Committee, as well as in the Consultative Forums of Frontex and of EUAA.
- Publication of reports on Czech Republic and Slovak Republic and visits to Poland and Republic of Moldova
- Judgments on Hungary, Lithuania and Russia
- Letters to Interior Ministers of Hungary and Spain, and a statement addressing trafficking in human beings
- ECRI Annual report: Council of Europe anti-discrimination body identified main trends in Europe
- Children in migration: Explanatory memorandum on effective guardianship, and Checklist to protect refugee children from sexual abuse and exploitation
- Activities of the PACE Migration Committee
- Women and child refugees - Congress delegation collects experiences from Polish cities
- HELP Network conference focuses on Council of Europe response to the war in Ukraine
- New reference guide on Literacy and Second Language Learning for the Linguistic Integration of Adult Migrants
- First meeting of the Committee of Experts on the Intercultural Integration of Migrants