HELP courses
The HELP online courses are interactive and visual. They cover various human rights related topics, reflecting the different areas of work of the Council of Europe.
While HELP courses focused on the European Convention on Human Rights at the beginning, it gradually moved to cover also other instruments like the European Social Charter or Council of Europe Conventions in key areas like data protection or bioethics. Furthermore, with European Union support since 2015, we include the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and relevant EU law in the courses specifically developed for European Union countries, in key areas that respond to the many serious challenges that Europe is facing. Thus, HELP courses are unique as they combine the EU and the Council of Europe law and case law, and help judges, prosecutors and lawyers to apply both systems in a practical and effective way.
HELP courses are developed in line with the HELP Methodology, jointly with the respective content entities of the Council of Europe, for example, the course Key human rights principles in Biomedicine was developed jointly with the Council of Europe Bioethics Unit, the course on Human Rights in Sports with the Council of Europe Sports Department, the course on Data Protection with the Data Protection Unit, the course on Labour Rights with the European Social Charter, the course on Violence Against Women with the relevant Council of Europe Division, the course on Refugee and Migrant Children with the Office of the Special Representative of the Council of Europe Secretary General for Migration and so on.
Lawyers from the Registry of the European Court of Human Rights are also involved in the development of the HELP online courses, to ensure the best possible reflection of the ECtHR case-law in the separate areas of law. Increasingly, HELP key partners such as EJTN, CCBE, FRA, UNHCR, OSCE/ODIHR etc. offer their expertise in the development of HELP courses.
The HELP online courses are hosted on the Council of Europe HELP e-learning platform. They can be taken as:
- Selfstudy courses, available publicly for unlimited access to anyone who creates an account on the HELP online platform. If you would like to take any of the HELP courses for selflearning, just log-in with your HELP account on the HELP online platform and click on the language code under the picture of the course that you would like to take.
- Tutored courses organised in cooperation with a national partner institution, usually national training institutions for judges and prosecutors (NTIs) or Bar associations (BAs). The HELP tutored courses are facilitated/moderated by a HELP certified tutor, who was trained by the HELP Secretariat. Successful participants in HELP tutored courses are certified jointly by the HELP Programme and the national partner institution. If you are a legal professional and you would like to take a tutored course, get in touch with the NTI or BA in your country, through the HELP Focal and Info Points.
Although the primary target group of the Council of Europe HELP courses are legal professionals (judges, prosecutors and lawyers), some interdisciplinary courses may involve other professionals (health and medical specialists, prison and probation staff, law enforcement, journalists, Ombudsperson staff, NGOs, etc.).
HELP course list
Access to Justice for women
Developed jointly with the Gender Equality Division, under the Partnership for Good Governance project “Strengthening Access to Justice for Women Victims of Violence in the Six Eastern Partnership Countries”.
Published: November 2018
Length: Approximately 10 hours
Modules:
- Introduction to the concept of access to justice
- International and European legal framework
- Discrimination on the grounds of sex and gender
- Avoiding gender stereotyping
- Practical guidance to improve women’s access to justice
- Gender sensitive approach to the practice of law
Admissibility criteria for applications submitted to the European Court of Human Rights
Last updated: March 2019
Length: approximately 6 hours
Modules:
- Introduction
- Grounds for inadmissibility: incompatibility, anonymity, substantially the same, abuse of rights
- Grounds for inadmissibility: non-exhaustion, six-month rule, no significant disadvantage
- Grounds for inadmissibility: manifestly ill-founded
Alternative measures to detention and community sanctions
Last updated: March 2017
Length: Approximately 6 hours
Modules:
- Introduction
- Substantive rights
- Procedural rights
- Non-custodial alternatives
- Implementation
- Community involvement
- Electronic monitoring
The course also includes a separate part on Alternative modules to detention for female offenders.
Alternatives to Immigration Detention
The course has been produced jointly by the Independent Human Rights Bodies Division and the HELP Programme of the Council of Europe, alongside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). It has been developed under the Council of Europe Action Plan on Protecting Refugee and Migrant Children in Europe (2017-2019), with the support of the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Migration and Refugees (SRSG).
Published: June 2020
Length: Approximately 7 hours
Modules:
- Introductory Module
- Legal and Practical Basics
- Legal Framework
- What Possible Types of Alternatives?
- How to make Alternatives effective
Asylum and Human Rights
Initially developed jointly with UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).The update process was done in cooperation with the UNHCR Representation to the European Institutions in Strasbourg and involved several relevant CoE entities, namely the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General on migration and refugees, the Independent Human Rights Bodies Division as well the Registry of the European Court of Human Rights.
Initially developed: 2015
Updated: 2021
Length: Approximately 6 hours
Modules:
- Introduction
- Non-refoulement, the right to life and prohibition of ill-treatment
- Detention and Reception
- The right to family life and asylum
- Effective remedy
Business and Human Rights
Published: 2016
Length: Approximately 8 hours
Modules:
- Introduction
- Pillar One: the State Duty to Protect
- Pillar Two: the Corporate Responsibility to Respect
- Pillar Three: an Effective Remedy
- Extraterritoriality
Child-friendly Justice and Children's Rights
Developed jointly with Council of Europe Children’s Rights Division.
Last Updated: June 2023
Length: Approximately 9 hours
Modules:
-
- Introduction
- Basics of Child-friendly justice
- The Right to Effective Participation in Justice Systems
- Diversion and Restorative Justice
- Children's Rights Prior to Judicial Proceedings
- Children's Rights during Judicial Proceedings
- Children's Rights after Judicial Proceedings
- Violence against Children and Interdisciplinarity
Combating trafficking in human beings
Developed with the Council of Europe Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) Secretariat.
Published: 2017
Length: Approximately 11 hours
Modules:
-
- Introduction and legal framework
- Definitions and legal concepts
- Identification of victims of human trafficking
- Assistance for victims of human trafficking
- The non-punishment principle
- Investigation, prosecution and victims’ rights
- Sentencing
- Compensation for victims of human trafficking
- Return and repatriation
CPT Standards
Developed in cooperation with the Council of Europe Commitee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) and with the support of the Project “Strengthening the application of the European Convention on Human Rights in Georgia”, under the European Union-Council of Europe Partnership for Good Governance.
Published: September 2019
Length: Approximately 10 hours
Modules:
- Introduction
- Law enforcement
- Prisons and other penal institutions
- Immigration detention
- Psychiatric establishments
- Social care homes
Cybercrime and Electronic Evidence
Developed jointly with the Cybercrime Programme Office, with support of the Cybercrime@Octopus and the follow-up Octopus projects, funded by voluntary contributions. Joint CoE / EU projects GLACY+ and CyberEAST supported as well development of this course.
Published: March 2022
Length: approximately 10 hours
Modules
- Introduction to computers, networks and cybercrime
- Introduction to the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime
- Substantive provisions of the Budapest Convention
- Electronic evidence and the Budapest Convention procedural provisions
- International cooperation provisions of the Budapest Convention
- Cybercrime in practice and Human Rights
- The Second Additional Protocol to the Budapest Convention
Data Protection and Privacy Rights
Developed by the EU funded project "HELP in the 28" in close cooperation with the Council of Europe Data Protection Unit.
Published: March 2019
Length: Approximately 12 hours
Modules:
- Legal framework (privacy vs. data protection)
- Key concepts
- Key principles
- Health data
- Data Protection and Media
- E-communications & marketing
- New technologies
- Data protection in the workplace
- Administrative, criminal and civil remedies
- International data flows
Ethics for Judges, Prosecutors and Lawyers
Developed in 2020-2021 under the EU-CoE "HELP in the EU II" project in cooperation with the following Council of Europe entities/services: the Secretariats of the Venice Commission, the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ), the Consultative Councils of the European Judges and Prosecutors (CCJE and CCPE) and the Registry of the European Court of Human Rights.
Published: April 2021
Length: Approximately 9 hours
Modules:
- Introduction
- International and European Framework
- Ethics for Judges
- Ethics for Prosecutors
- Ethics for Lawyers
Family Law and Human Rights
Jointly financed by the European Union-Council of Europe "HELP in the EU" project and the European Union-Council of Europe Horizontal Facility Action "Strengthening the Human Rights Ombudsman to fight discrimination”, in cooperation with the Council of Europe Children’s Rights Division.
Published: February 2019
Length: Approximately 9 hours
Modules:
- Introduction
- Rights Related to Couples
- Relationship between Children and their Parents and Other Relatives
- International Child Abduction
- Children’s Rights: Key Challenges
Fight Against Racism, Xenophobia, Homophobia and Transphobia
Developed under the European Union-Council of Europe funded project "HELP in the 28" and updated under the European Union-Council of Europe funded project "HELP in the EUII".
Published: March 2017
Updated: 2021
Length: Approximately 6 hours
Modules:
0. Introduction
- Key concepts
- Legal framework
- Racism and xenophobia
- Homophobia and transphobia
Freedom of Expression
This course has been jointly updated and modernised by the Council of Europe Information Society Department and the European Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) under the Action “Freedom of Expression and Freedom of the Media in South-East Europe (JUFREX)” implemented under the European Union and Council of Europe Joint Programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey II”.
Published: June 2020
Length: Approximately 9 hours
Modules:
- Introduction and key principles
- Types of speech protected under Article 10. Privacy and defamation
- Media regulation. Freedom of Expression online. Freedom of Expression and elections. Protection of sources. Information received in confidence
- Access to information. Freedom of Expression and protest. Freedom of Expression and administration of justice. Freedom of Expression in the workplace. Freedom of Expression and religion
Gathering and Use of Evidence in Counter Terrorism Cases
This course was developped in cooperation with relevant CoE departments, especially the Council of Europe Counter-Terrorism Committee (CDCT), particularly the CODEXTER database on ECtHR case law relevant for counter-terrorism. The present course has synergies with the course on Radicalisation Prevention, developed under the Eu-CoE HELP Radicalisation prevention project.
The course is based on the CoE and EU framework, namely Articles 3, 5, 6, 8, 10 and 14 of the ECHR and CETS 198 2005, Article 4, 6, 7, 8 11, 21 and 47 of the EU Charter and EU Counter-Terrorism strategy.
Published: January 2019
Length: Approximately 3 hours
Modules:
- Traditional investigation techniques
- Special investigation techniques
- Judges and prosecutors’ role
- Due process/fair trial guarantees/procedural safeguards in evidence gathering
- Transnational dimension
Hate Crime and Hate Speech
The module on Hate Crime was developed jointly with the OSCE Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
Published: 2021
Length: Approximately 8 hours
Hate Crime Course:
-
- Introduction to hate crime and hate speech
- The concept of hate crime
- International legal framework
- Investigating, prosecuting and sentencing hate crime
Hate Speech Course:
- Introduction to hate crime and hate speech
- The concept of hate crime
- International legal framework
- Investigating
Human Rights in Sport
Developed jointly with the Children’s Rights and Sport Values Department of the Council of Europe, with the collaboration of MGIMO University.
Published: September 2018
Length: Approximately 8 hours
Modules:
- Introduction
- Sports arbitration and litigation – Fair trial (Art. 6 of European Convention on Human Rights - the ECHR)
- Privacy (Art. 8 of the ECHR)
- Life and security (Art. 2, 3 and 4 of the ECHR)
- Liberty, Freedom of Expression and Assembly (Art. 5, 10 and 11 of the ECHR)
- Prohibition of discrimination
- Anti-doping and human rights
- Sports manipulation and human rights
- Safety and security of sport events and human rights
Internal Displacement
Developed under the Council of Europe Project "Strengthening the Human Rights Protection of Internally Displaced Persons in Ukraine".
Published: June 2018
Length: Approximately 8 hours
Modules:
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Overview and Key Concepts
- 3. International and European Legal Framework
- 4. Protection of Property and Home under ECHR
- 5. Other Frequently Invoked ECHR rights
- 6. Protection of Social Rights
International Cooperation on Criminal Matters
Developed jointly with the Council of Europe’s Committee of Experts on the Operation of European Conventions on Co-operation in Criminal Matters (PC-OC) and finalised using the funds of the Horizontal Facility for Western Balkans and Turkey, a Joint Programme of the European Union and the Council of Europe.
Published: August 2017
Length: Approximately 12 hours
Modules:
-
- Introduction
- Legal framework
- Extradition
- Mutual Legal Assistance
- Transfer of Sentenced Persons
- Supervision of Offenders, International Validity of Criminal Judgements and Transfer of Proceedings
- Seizure and confiscation of Proceeds of Crime
Interplay Between the ECHR and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights
Published: July 2023
Length: Approximaterly 6 hours
Modules:
-
- Introduction
- Introduction to Human Rights Protection in Europe
- Protection of Human Rights within the Council of Europe and the European Union
- Interplay
- Practical Implication
Introduction to the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights
Published: March 2020
Length: Approximately 6 hours
Modules:
- The European Convention on Human Rights
- The European Court of Human Rights
- Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights
Judicial Reasoning and Human Rights
Last Updated: March 2022
Length: Approximately 8 hours
Modules:
- Introduction
- Judicial Reasoning and Fair Trial
- Judicial Reasoning in criminal proceedings - Pre-trial Stage
- Judicial Reasoning in Criminal Proceedings - Trial, Appeal and Enforcement of Judgements
- Judicial Reasoning in Non-Criminal Proceedings - General Principles
- Judicial Reasoning in Non-Criminal Proceedings - Thematic Issues I
- Judicial Reasoning in Non-Criminal Proceedings - Thematic Issues II
Key Human Rights Principles in Biomedicine
Developed jointly with the Bioethics Unit of the Council of Europe.
Published: August 2018
Length: Approximately 8 hours
Modules:
- Introduction
- Free and Informed Consent
- Medical Confidentiality and Protection of Health Related Data
- Protection of the Embryo and Procreation
- End of Life
- Genetic Testing
- Biomedical Research
- Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues
Labour Rights as Human Rights
Developed under the European Union-Council of Europe funded project "HELP in the 28", in close cooperation with the Secretariat of the European Committee on Social Rights of the Council of Europe.
Published: March 2017
Length: Approximately 11 hours
Modules:
- Introduction
- Right to work and employment relationship
- Working time
- Fair remuneration and protection of wages
- Termination of employment
- Equality and non-discrimination
- Collective labour rights on all levels
- Occupational safety and health
LGBTI Persons in the Asylum Procedure
Published: July 2023
Length: Approximaterly 3 hours
Modules:
- Introduction
- Legal Framework
- The Rights of LGBTI Persons in the Asylum Context
- Substantive and Procedural Aspects Related to the Asylum Application
Pharmaceutical crime and the MEDICRIME Convention
The course is primarily intended for legal professionals (judges, prosecutors, lawyers and law-enforcement officials). It can also serve as a useful tool for policy makers, other civil servants and university students.
In particular, the course helps understand what pharmaceutical crime is, how it is investigated, and how different agencies and individuals are cooperating in combating this specific form of criminality. It also gives an introduction on the Council of Europe MEDICRIME Convention and its mode of operation.
Launched as a tutored course: 2016
Published in self-learning format: 2021
Length: approximately 6 hours
Modules:
- What is pharmaceutical crime?
- Offences under the MEDICRIME Convention
- Investigating a pharmaceutical crime
- International cooperation
Pre Trial Investigation and the European Convention on Human Rights
Published: 2016
Length: Approximately 7 hours
Modules:
- Covert investigation
- Search
- Pre-trial detention
- Treatment in detention
- Fair trial
- Effective investigation
Procedural Safeguards in Criminal Proceedings and Victims' Rights
Developed under the European Union-Council of Europe funded Project "HELP in the EU".
Published: September 2019
Length: Approximately 11 hours
Modules:
- Introduction
- General Aspects of a Fair Trial
- Specific Rights – The Presumption of Innocence
- Specific Rights (Right to Information; Right to Remain Silent and Not to Incriminate Oneself; Right of Access to a Lawyer; Right to Legal Aid; Right to Interpretation and Translation)
- Specific Rights (Right to Examine Witnesses; Right to be present at Trial; Right to Appeal; Right to an Effective Remedy; Protection in the European Arrest warrant (EAW) Proceedings)
- Victims’ Rights
Prohibition of Ill-Treatment
Developed in cooperation with the European Union-Council of Europe Joint Programme Partnership for Good Governance Action “Strengthening the implementation of European human rights standards in Ukraine".
Last Updated: January 2023
Length: Approximately 7 hours
Modules:
- Legal framework and concepts
- Effective(procedural) response to ill-treatment and combatting impunity
- Ill-treatment in places of deprivation of liberty
- Use of force as a means of restraint
- Ill-treatment beyond coercive context
- Interrelation with other rights
- Who does what?
- Ill-treatment during armed conflict
Protection and Safety of Journalists
This HELP online course has been jointly developed by the Council of Europe Information Society Department and the European Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) under the Action “Freedom of Expression and Freedom of the Media in South-East Europe (JUFREX)” implemented under the European Union and Council of Europe Joint Programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey II”.
Published: July 2020
Length: Approximately 10 hours
Modules:
- Key standards and principles
- Threats against journalism (threats against journalists, effects of the threats, response to the threats)
- Legal frameworks and mechanisms and tools
- Physical and psychological integrity of journalists
- Journalism in action (newsgathering; publication; journalism on trial; law enforcement and journalists)
Property Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights
Developed in the framework of the project “Reinforcing the capacities of the judiciary to apply European Human Rights Standards at the national level in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, funded by the Kingdom of Norway.
Published: 2016
Length: Approximately 10 hours
Modules:
- Introduction
- Legal framework and scope
- The three rules
- Permissible restrictions and proportionality
- Specific areas of interest
- Interaction between Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 and other ECHR Articles
- Compensation and restitution
Quality of Justice - The Work of the CEPEJ
Developed jointly with CEPEJ and Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) Secretariats of the Council of Europe.
Published: November 2023
Length: Approximately 10 hours
Modules:
0. Introductory Module
1. Introduction to the work of the CEPEJ
2. CEPEJ and the measurement of the quality of justice
3. Users and quality of justice
4. Judicial Time Management
5. Digitalisation of Judicial Processs
6. Artificial Intelligence and Justice
7. The importance of quality of justice in mediation
Radicalisation Prevention
Developed under the European Union-Council of Europe funded Project "HELP Radicalisation Prevention".
Published: March 2019
Length: Between 10 and 15 hours
Modules:
- Introduction
- International and European legal framework
- Module on Judges and Prosecutors
- Gathering and use of evidence in terrorism cases
- Generic for Prison and Probation Services
- Specific for Prison Services
- Specific for Probation Services
- Foreign Prisoners (developed by EuroPris)
Refugee and Migrant Children
Developed in cooperation with the Council of Europe Office of Secretary General’s Special Representative on Migration and Refugees, the Children’s Rights Division of the Council of Europe and the UNHCR, and is a part of the activities implementing the Council of Europe Action Plan on protecting Refugee and Migrant Children in Europe (2017-2019).
Published: September 2018
Length: Approximately 10 hours
Modules:
- Introduction to the legal framework
- Child-friendly procedures
- Alternatives to detention
- Family reunification
- Social rights and integration
- Guardianship
- Age assessment
Right to Liberty and Security - Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights
Published: 2016
Length: Approximately 8 hours
Modules:
- Introduction
- Scope of application of Article 5 and lawfulness
- Justifications in Article 5
- Case study
Right to the Integrity of the Person (Bioethics)
Developed under the European Union-Council of Europe funded project "HELP in the 28", jointly with the Bioethics Unit of the Council of Europe.
Published: March 2017
Length: Approximately 10 hours
Modules:
- Right to the Integrity of the Person in general
- Right to the Integrity of the Person in the specific fields of medicine and biology:
- Principle of free and informed consent
- Prohibition of eugenics
- Prohibition of human reproductive cloning
- Prohibition of financial gain
Right to Respect for Family and Private Life - Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights
Published: 2016
Length: Approximately 10 hours
Modules:
- Introduction
- Key concepts
- Admissibility and scope
- Merits
- Limitations
- States’ obligations
- Relation to other Articles of the European Convention on Human Rights
- Redress
- Knowledge checks
Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Developed jointly with the Advocacy Centre on Council of Europe Standards (ACCESS).
Published: March 2018
Length: Approximately 8 hours
Modules:
- Introductory module
- Non-discrimination and intersectionality
- Legal capacity and independent living
- Accessibility and independent living
- Social rights of persons with disabilities
The Environment and Human Rights
Developed under the Project “Online Platform for Business and Human Rights”. Implemented by the HELP programme in cooperation with the Council of Europe Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH).
Published: April 2021
Length: Approximately 6 hours
Modules:
0. Introduction
1. Key concepts
2. The human rights-based approach to environmental protection
3. Green human rights in regional human rights systems
4. Environmental degradation and corporate accountability
Transitional Justice and Human Rights
Last Updated: July 2023
Length: Approximately 7 hours
Modules:
- Introduction
- Basics of Transitional Justice
- Justice and Accountability
- Investigations, Truth and Extra-Judicial Bodies
- Legality, Amnesties and the Duty to Prosecute
- Reparations and Guarantees of Non-Repitition
- Witnesses and Victims
Transition of Migrant and Refugee Children to Adulthood
Published: July 2023
Length: Approximately 3 hours
Modules:
- Introduction
- Young refugees and Migrants
- Legal Support and Information
- Adequate Standard of Living
- Mental Health and Psychosocial Support
- Education and Employment
Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence
Developed in cooperation with the Gender Equality Division of the Council of Europe.
Published: November 2017
Length: Approximately 12 hours
Modules:
- Understanding violence against women and domestic violence
- International and European Legal Framework
- Overcoming barriers / access to Justice
- Criminal Justice Response I – Investigation and pre-trial
- Criminal Justice Response II – Trial and sentencing
- Civil Justice Response
- Alternative Dispute Resolution
Violence against Women and Domestic Violence for Law Enforcement
Published: December 2021
Length: Approximately 6 hours
Modules:
- Introduction
- Understanding VaW and DV
- Effective Law Enforcement responses in addressing VaW and DV
- Assessing Risk of VaW and DV