On 4 – 5 July, prof. dr. Lyra Jakulevičienė, the Dean of the Law School of Mykolas Romeris University (MRU), opened the 20th Anniversary of HELP (Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals) network conference for legal professionals, organised in Strasbourg, France, under the auspices of the Lithuanian Presidency in the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. The HELP program has equipped the European legal community (judges, prosecutors, advocates and other legal professionals) and beyond, with learning tools, networking and methodologies on application of human rights standards.

The Dean emphasized the importance of HELP Program not only for legal professionals, but also for future lawyers, including students, and encouraged to expand the program to academia through partnerships with Universities. As Universities increasingly build micro-credential programs and integrate online learning into curriculums, she invited the program to expand cooperation with Mykolas Romeris University and other Lithuanian universities in integrating HELP courses into existing international law, human rights and other relevant curriculums.

Prof. Jakulevičienė highlighted that in the challenging period that we all live now, we need to be united and stand together to defend our European values, with Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine in its third year already. She welcomed the discussion of the Conference on HELP Program’s efforts to support Ukraine, to strengthen its democratic institutions, in the framework of the Council of Europe’s Action Plan “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction”.

The Dean also presented the Lithuanian Presidency priorities, including: support to Ukraine, including accountability for international crimes of Russia, return of Ukrainian children unlawfully deported to Russia; reinforcement of social rights, gender equality; freedom and expression and safety of journalists; fight against disinformation, hate speech and distortion of history; digital dimension of human rights.

She invited to follow the unprecedental opening for signature of the Framework Convention on AI and Human Rights in Vilnius in September during the Informal Conference of Ministers of Justice.

Full speech can be accessed here.

Program of the event can be accessed here.

Discover free online courses on contemporary elements of human rights at HELP e-learning platform.