The European Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) course on "Asylum and European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)" was launched online on 9 April in co-operation with the Human Rights Department of the Ministry of Justice of Turkey, under the Action on "Strengthening the human rights protection of migrants and victims of human trafficking in Turkey". The online event brought together 83 judges and prosecutors with the representatives of Council of Europe Programme Office in Ankara, the Ministry of Justice of Turkey, the trainers of the course and the Action team.

In their opening speeches, both the director of the Human Rights Department of Ministry of Justice, Dr Hacı Ali AÇIKGÖZ and the Head of Ankara Programme Office of the Council of Europe, Mr Cristian URSE highlighted the importance of the course for judges/prosecutors, having in mind the high number of migrants in Turkey.

Representative of the Action, Mr Çağlar KIRAN, gave a general overview of the courses offered by the HELP online platform and provided in the framework of the Action. It was also announced that an additional three virtual training sessions are to be organised in co-operation with the Ministry of Justice for judges/prosecutors, namely “Alternatives to Immigration Detention”, “Refugee and Migrant Children” and “Child Friendly Justice”, in addition to the “Asylum and ECHR” Course.

Ms Sanem GÜRUS-TANYAR, lawyer at the Registry of the European Court of Human Rights, attended the event as a guest speaker and presented the legal framework and relevant case-law of the Court.

The trainers of the HELP course, rapporteur judges Mr Taha BÜYÜKTAVŞAN and Mr Ramazan TEKİN presented the HELP platform, content, demonstrated how to access and effectively use the platform and how to interact with the trainer and other participants in the virtual training lesson. They also informed the participants that they would receive a HELP certificate upon successful completion.

The HELP Course on “Asylum and ECHR” covers the key provisions of the European Convention of Human Rights and the related case-law of the European Court of Human Rights, which are of particular relevance for asylum-seekers and refugees and is expected to improve the knowledge of the legal professionals regarding Turkish law and practice as well as on the case-law of the European Court in relation to protection of asylum-seekers.

The course was organised within the framework of the Action “Strengthening the human rights protection of migrants and victims of human trafficking in Turkey”, part of the European Union/Council of Europe collaboration “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022”.