On 25 February 2021, the Council of Europe HELP online course on Key human rights principles in biomedicine was launched in North Macedonia for 30 candidate judges and prosecutors, in cooperation with the Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors of the Republic of North Macedonia.

Prof Dr Natasha Gaber-Damjanovska, Director of the Academy, welcomed participants by emphasising the relevance of the HELP online course to the current circumstances and the interest of Macedonian practitioners. By welcoming participants in the course, the Minister of Health Dr Venko Filipche referred to the interdisciplinary nature of the HELP online course which is relevant for health and legal professionals.

By emphasising the relevance of bioethics during the current sanitary crisis, Annabelle Regal, Programme Manager of the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of North Macedonia, confirmed the EU support in the implementation of HELP online courses as a respond to legal training need. Lejla Dervisagic, Head of Operations of the Council of Europe Programme Office in Skopje, in her welcoming remarks reminded participants that the Council of Europe is the top provider of online judicial training.

Laurence Lwoff, Head of the Council of Europe Bioethics Unit, provided participants with an introduction to the Oviedo Convention and its Additional Protocols by recalling it remains the only legally binding instrument in this field which North Macedonia ratified in 2009. The role of the Committee on Bioethics (DH-BIO) as the leading intergovernmental body for the protection of human rights in biomedicine was mentioned. The importance of bioethics, especially during the COVID-19 outbreak and its relevance both for legal and health professionals was mentioned by Prof Dr med Biljana Janeska, Head of the Chair of Medical Ethics and member of the Ethical Board, Faculty of Medicine of Skopje.

Following an introduction by Ana Medarska-Lazova, HELP Secretariat, to the HELP Programme and its main achievements under the HELP in the Western Balkans action, a presentation of the international and European legal framework in the field of human rights and biomedicine was delivered by Elena Ignovska, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law of Skopje.

Finally, Natasha Gaber-Damjanovska and Gabriela Gajdova, HELP national tutors, illustrated the national legal framework while taking participants through the course format, structure and content. Following the launching event, the HELP online course on Key human rights principles in biomedicine will be implemented online for the selected group of participants.

Once piloted, the course will be available online in Macedonian. To date, the course is available online for free at the HELP e-learning platform in English, French, German, Armenian, Italian, Latvian, Romanian, Russian, Spanish and Ukrainian - in most cases they are national adaptations of the original course.

The launch event was organised within the scope of the Regional action “HELP in the Western Balkans” that is a part of the joint European Union/Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022”, implemented by the Council of Europe.