Following the successful completion of the first pilot course on prohibition of torture and ill-treatment in October 2018, a second generation of law students in Montenegro will attend the human rights course on application of the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention) in the period from March to May 2019.
Considering that education plays a crucial role in promoting human rights, it is of utmost importance that legal professionals are taught human rights from the beginning of their educational cycle. Stemming from the results achieved and taking into consideration that law students in Montenegro are lacking practical training on skills required for the proper application of the European Convention at the national level, the Action provides support in developing a comprehensive human rights course as a part of the regular curricula of law faculties.
The course will be included in the programmes of the second semesters of the third and fourth years of law studies and will provide hands-on legal experience on the Convention and its practical application through the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights for 30 students from the Universities of Montenegro, Donja Gorica and Mediterranean. The students will be coached by law practitioners – judges and lawyers, as well as by Council of Europe HELP programme tutors and national trainers of the Judicial Training Centre.
Working through case studies, students will be presented with examples of written and oral arguments used in front of the European Court of Human Rights and thus will be enabled to develop and hone essential lawyering skills, including oral advocacy, fact-finding, research and strategic thinking. They will critically examine the substance and application of human rights law, the use of interdisciplinary methodologies for documenting and responding to human rights violations.
After the completion of the course, students’ knowledge and skills concerning the application of the Convention will be assessed. The students who obtain the best results will be offered the opportunity to visit human rights institutions in Strasbourg.
The activity is organised in close cooperation with the NGO “Centre for Monitoring and Research” within the framework of the Council of Europe Action entitled “Fighting ill treatment and impunity and enhancing the application of the European human rights case law on national level” which is being implemented in Montenegro under the joint Council of Europe and the European Union programme “Horizontal Facility for Western Balkans and Turkey”.
