Geri Towards a better protection of children’s rights in North Macedonia: HELP online course launched for 30 legal professionals

Towards a better protection of children’s rights in North Macedonia: HELP online course launched for 30 legal professionals

The Council of Europe HELP online course on Child-friendly justice was launched in North Macedonia for 30 candidate judges and prosecutors, in cooperation with the Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors of the Republic of North Macedonia.

 

Prof Dr Natasha Gaber-Damjanovska, Director of the Academy, welcomed participants by emphasising the importance of children’s rights and the need for the new generation of judges and prosecutors to be able to apply them in their practice.

 

“Thank to the Council of Europe and the European Union for the continuous support in reforming the justice system and to the HELP Programme for its positive effects on legal professionals in North Macedonia”, the Minister of Justice Bojan Maricic said during his welcoming speech. The need for legal professionals to understand European human rights standards and implement them at the national level is crucial in view of the alignment of legislation with the EU acquis.

 

Lejla Dervisagic, Head of Operations of the Council of Europe Programme Office in Skopje, in her welcoming remarks reminded participants that the Council of Europe is the top provider of online judicial training. In 2020, more than 700 Macedonian legal professionals benefited from the Council of Europe HELP online courses.

 

Judge Ksenija Turkovic, Vice-president of the European Court of Human Rights, delivered a keynote speech providing an overview of the application of the principle of best interest of the child in the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. Moreover, she illustrated the most recent judgments that the Strasbourg Court delivered in the field of children’s rights.

 

The importance of child-friendly justice and the need to protect children’s rights whenever decisions are made concerning them in the justice system were highlighted by Regina Jensdottir, Head of Children’s Rights Division and Programme Coordinator, Council of Europe. The Guidelines of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on child-friendly justice are crucial to fill the gap between the law and the practice, therefore member states should mobilise efforts to implement them fully, although they are not legally binding.

 

Finally, Katerina Kolarevikj and Marija Kletnicka Markovska, HELP national tutors, illustrated the national legal framework while taking participants through the course format, structure and content. Following the launching event, the HELP online course on Child-friendly justice will be implemented online for the selected group of participants.

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 Child-friendly justice, developed by the Council of Europe Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) and the Children’s Rights Division, aims to strengthen and harmonise the knowledge of the relevant European standards on child-friendly justice across the Council of Europe member states. 

It is available in the HELP online platform in the following versions:

North Macedonia 18 February 2021
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