The online course on Anti-discrimination issues of the Council of Europe HELP Programme was launched for a group of 34 judges, judicial assistants and lawyers of the free legal aid system in the Republic of Moldova. The course will be implemented as part of the activities of the Project Supporting national efforts of prevention and combatting discrimination in the Republic of Moldova.

The event was opened by Olga Dorul, representative of the Moldovan National Institute of Justice and HELP national tutor, and Ana Medarska-Lazova, HELP Project Officer. Following the general introduction to the HELP Programme, the participants could benefit from a lecture on the basic concepts and current challenges of Anti-discrimination issues by Ivana Roagna, international consultant. The national tutors of the course also offered an overview of the national adaptation available to the participant during the course implementation. The event was rounded with a practical demonstration on using the HELP online platform.

The course will be tutored by Olga Dorul and Dumitru Sliusarenco and will be implemented over the next several weeks. Successful participants will be certified by the Council of Europe. The HELP course on Anti-discrimination issues is one of the most demanded HELP courses, available in 16 languages on the HELP online platform. It comprises five modules:

1. Introduction to Anti-discrimination issues
2. Discrimination of Roma
3. Discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation and gender identity
4. Discrimination of disabled persons
5. Discrimination against minority community on grounds of race, religion, ethnicity or national origin

The model course in English was updated and modernised in summer 2018 by Ivana Roagna. The Moldovan participants are the first to benefit from the updated version of this course.

Group photo of participants to the launch of the Council of Europe HELP online course on Anti-discrimination issues in Moldova. © Council of Europe