A conference on the The European Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) carried out by the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France, was held on June 21-22, 2017. The conference under the title of "Quality Education for Qualitative Decisions" was attended by representatives of judicial academies and bar associations of member states of the Council of Europe and representatives of the HELP program countries.

The event was declared open by Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni and Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly Mikele Nicholetti. It was noted the significance of the HELP program in the further development of professional skills of lawyers operating within the CE and the significance to study the CE Conventions.

Vice-President of the European Court of Human Rights, Judge Linos-Alexandre Sicilianos, spoke about the reform and current challenges in the work of the European Court of Human Rights. Thanks to Protocol 16, the European Court is ready to guide Supreme Courts of the Council of Europe countries in the interpretation and application of rights and freedoms recognized by the European Convention on Human Rights. He also stressed the role of the Council of Europe’s HELP Program and its courses for legal practitioners in improving implementation of the Convention and effectiveness of the system.

During the conference it was stated that the quality and quantity of distant courses in the HELP program were renewed. The program includes; Rights of Refugee and Migrant Children, Human rights in Biomedicine, Child-friendly justice, Combating human trafficking, International Cooperation on Criminal Matters, Rights of persons with disabilities and other courses on current topics have been added.

New members of the consultative board of the HELP program were also selected at the conference.

The Head of Human Rights Policy and Cooperation Department of the Directorate General Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe, Mikhail Lobov, closed the conference underlining the quality of HELP courses as they benefit from the Council of Europe and the European Court expertise and urged the members of the Network to cooperate in the curricula of their national training institutions or bar associations.

It should be noted that, as usual, this year, the rating table for the “HELP” programs promotion and number of users in 47 member states of the Council of Europe was formed during the conference. Despite the fact that Azerbaijan was holding one of the last places among 47 countries, our country made a serious progress and Azerbaijan jumped to the 13th place in 2016 and is on the 10th place in 2017. According to the rating table, our country is among the first in the South Caucasus.

At the event, Azerbaijan was represented by the Chairman of the Presidium of the Bar Association Mr. Anar Bagirov and the coordinator of the HELP platform, Mr. Zulfikar Babayev.