On 19 February, the free Council of Europe HELP online course on Procedural safeguards in criminal proceedings and victims’ rights was launched in cooperation with the Centre for Training in Judiciary and State Prosecution of Montenegro.

Participants were welcomed by Ljiljana Lakić, President of the Steering Committee of the Training Centre, who provided for an overview of the HELP courses that were implemented so far fo the benefit of Montenegrin professionals.

Moreover, Milenka Žižić and Sanja Jovićević, HELP tutors, informed participants about the course structure and the dynamic of its implementation over a 2-monts period.

A selected group of 40 judges, prosecutors and lawyers will take part in the HELP online tutored course with the aim to prosecute crimes while providing access to justice and adequate protection from further harm to victims.

While the EU Charter confirms the rights enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), mentioning the right to a fair trail and public hearing by an independent tribunal; the right to be advised and represented and the right to legal aid, both instruments lay out a number of rights that pertain to victims. Therefore, legal professionals should be responsive to the individual needs of the victims and be particularly aware of certain categories of vulnerable victims such as children, victims of sexual violence or victims of terrorism.

The launching event was organised within the scope of the Regional action “HELP in the Western Balkans” that is a part of the joint European Union/Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022”, implemented by the Council of Europe.

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The Council of Europe HELP online course on Procedural safeguards in criminal proceedings and victims’ rights was developed by the Council of Europe Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) thanks to EU support, being financed by the “EU-CoE HELP in the EU” Project. It is available in the HELP online platform in the following versions:

• English
• French
• Bulgarian
• Czech
• Romanian
• Spanish
• Slovak