On April 20, 2023, during a partnership meeting of the High School’s management with representatives of the Project “HELP (Human Rights Education for Lawyers) for Ukraine, including in Time of War”, possible aspects of cooperation and future joint training and information and communication initiatives on advanced training of civil servants and local government officials, including the use of online tools and methodology for human rights training developed on the basis of the internal expertise of the Council of Europe, were discussed.

Yulia Lykhach, Director of the High School, and Serhiy Selivanov, Deputy Director, invited the Project’s experts to join the development of common short-term and professional advanced training programs. The issues of organizing trainings for trainers and training a pool of teachers in the field of human rights, non-discrimination, international humanitarian law, and transitional justice were also discussed.

“These topics are particularly relevant today for raising the level of competence of civil servants in the context of European integration processes and the restoration of Ukraine in the post-war period,” emphasized Yulia Lykhach.

Project Manager Olha Kostenko and Senior Specialist Halyna Smirnova expressed their interest in future cooperation and offered to present the opportunities of the HELP educational program at the High School events.

For reference: The project “HELP (Human Rights Education for Lawyers) for Ukraine, including during the war” is aimed at advanced training of current/future lawyers in Ukraine (judges, prosecutors, attorneys, other court officials and law students) for effective application of European human rights standards, including during the war. The project will develop a new Council of Europe HELP course on international humanitarian law and human rights, as well as adapt existing HELP courses and modules for Ukrainian lawyers. HELP courses are implemented online, offline and/or in a hybrid format. The Council of Europe’s Human Rights Education for Lawyers (HELP) program supports 46 Council of Europe member states in implementing the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and other human rights standards at the national level. This is done in line with the Committee of Ministers Recommendation (2019)5 on the ECHR system in university education and training, which follows up on and replaces Rec(2004)4. HELP provides training on European human rights standards (covering the legal systems of the Council of Europe and the EU), supporting justice sector institutions and bar associations.