The  tutored course of the Council of Europe HELP Programme on “Business and Human Rights” was launched on 15 September in Lviv for a group of 40 Ukrainian judges, lawyers and public servants, representing relevant ministries.

The HELP course “Business and Human Rights” addresses key aspects of human rights protection in the business environment. It covers the State’s duty to protect human rights, corporate responsibility to respect human rights, access to effective remedies, and recent developments in the European Union regulatory framework. It aims at strengthening capacity of judges and lawyers to apply relevant Council of Europe, EU and national standards in cases and situations involving business-related human rights issues.

The course was adapted to the Ukrainian legal system and national context by Olena Kibenko and Vitaliy Urkevych, HELP tutors and Judges of the Supreme Court.

Oleksandr Melnyk, Lawyer at the Registry of the European Court of Human Rights, presented the European Court of Human Rights Guide on Business and Human Rights.

Svitlana Hlushchenko, Director of the Department of the Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, presented the results of the Commissioner’s parliamentary oversight in the field of business and human rights. The participants worked in groups on cases focusing on sectoral guidance on responsible business conduct led by Kateryna Buriakovska, Associate Professor at Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University and Business and Human Rights Expert at Global Rights Compliance, and Iryna Fedorovych, Director of the NGO “Social Action Centre”. Bohdan Karnaukh, Doctor of Law and Associate Professor at the Department of Civil Law of Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, addressed the topic “Business and War-Related Harm: Involvement, Responsibility and Incentives.”

This was the second launch of the tutored course “Business and Human Rights” in Ukraine. The launch is organised jointly by the Council of Europe Project “HELP (Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals) for Ukraine, including during wartime – Phase II”, the Council of Europe Project “Advancing Ukraine’s Recovery through Responsible Investment”, and the National School of Judges of Ukraine. Both Council of Europe projects are implemented within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” 2023–2026.

The course HELP “Business and Human Rights” is also available in self-learning format via the link.