Completed

Enhancing the national capacity for effective implementation of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights

Directorate “Procedural Representation of Republic of Bulgaria before the European Court of Human Rights” ·Bulgaria

€750k

Grant awarded

Justice

Programme

4 March 2020

Signed

About this project

Programme outcome the project contributes to: “Improved application of European legal framework by the Bulgarian judiciary”. The project aims at ensuring the national framework for effective implementation of the European Court of Human Rights judgments and to establishing a human-rights-based approach amongst the justice institutions in Bulgaria in line with the principles of the efficiency of justice and the rule of law. The project aims at ensuring synergies between the responsible state actors in implementing the general measures prescribed by the European Court of Human Rights in its case law against Bulgaria and the relevant human rights standards. The project shall include, inter alia, the following activities: <ul> <li>Establishing of an effective implementation of the European Court’s of Human Rights judgments and suggestions of procedures and distribution of responsibilities to the appropriate state bodies;</li> <li>Designation and training of contact points within the administration of the executive, Parliament and the judiciary;</li> <li>Introduction of mandatory human rights law subject in the curriculum of the law faculties;</li> <li>Execution of European Court’s of Human Rights judgements requiring effective protection of the rights of vulnerable groups through development of an action plan;</li> <li>Ensuring accessibility of Human Rights Law materials through translation of European Court’s of Human Rights judgments and other human rights related documents and publishing of human rights bulletins summarising new Court’s case-law;</li> <li>Capacity building of national experts.</li> </ul>

Bilateral cooperation results

The project was implemented in partnership with the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights at the University of Oslo. The main objective of the project was to prepare and introduce human rights education as compulsory in the law faculties of the universities in Bulgaria. The Norwegian partner has made a key contribution to the successful implementation of this objective. The Norwegian Centre for Human Rights developed the PhD programme in Human Rights. The work included the creation and implementation of survey instruments to measure attitudes on the topic among teachers and students at Bulgarian universities. The Norwegian partner delivered trainings in Bulgaria and hosted a working visit of Bulgarian university lecturers, future human rights trainers. This partnership brought in valuable international knowledge, judgment and expertise in particular in the field of Human Rights education as a specific objectives of the project was the modernization of the learning environment for legal practitioners. Believing that we do best when we collaborate, the project was intended to build bridges between the scholars from the Norwegian Cent and their Bulgarian counterparts. In the end many valuable professional links were established, which is always the most sustainable result. As IPO, the Council of Europe reiterated its capacity to support implementation of this PdP through facilitating the use of existing e-learning courses on the Council of Europe’s European Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) platform.

Project partners

Norwegian Centre for Human Rights Donor project partner· Norway

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