Human rights activists have selected 40 lawyers from all over Ukraine, who will be taught to effectively protect human rights by using international mechanisms.

The organizers of the course “Application of International Human Rights Standards at the National Level” – the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union and the Human Rights House Network believe that international human rights mechanisms should be efficient if applied in Ukraine, and their implementation can be accelerated by Ukrainian lawyers.

Daria Svyrydova, the national coordinator of the course in Ukraine is confident: "The program allows us to train a new generation of lawyers. The lawyers who are professional in their daily practice will be able to recognize human rights violations and to protect victims of human rights violations using the standards and values of human rights first of all in the national level. Education allows them to look at their work from a different angle: the arguments of the lawyer’s position in the case, the search for new ways to protect the rights of the client”.

The organizers point out that this course is a unique one and have been never performed either in Ukraine or in post-Soviet countries. In addition to Ukrainian lawyers the training will be attended by their colleagues from Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus and Moldova.

There were 10 people in one place who wanted to take part in the study, so given the urgency and importance of the subject this year the organizers had to increase the number of seats from 25 to 40.

Well-known international experts, advocates, academics and representatives of the European Court of Human Rights will be the lecturers at the course.

According to Serhii Zaiets, a national coordinator of the course in Ukraine: “We hope that lawyers will be able to build a “bridge” from the general human rights principles to practical realization of these rights. For example, the lawyers must learn to keep track of how the application of certain national regulations complies with the international human rights standards and be able to convincingly argue their position to protect the rights of the client”.

The course is supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway.