OSCE Mission to Skopje supports training for defence lawyers on protecting human rights

SKOPJE, 4 July 2008 - Protecting human rights and upholding international standards are the focus of a training course for defence lawyers, launched in Struga today.

Thirty national defence lawyers from throughout the country will learn how to better apply Articles 5 and 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights domestically and about international fair trial standards.

The three-day training course is part of a project initiated by the country's Bar Association and supported by the OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje.

"Laws are becoming more and more complex, and each defence lawyer has to update his or her knowledge and increase professional skills in order to provide clients with the best possible services," said Holger Hembach, Judicial Reform Programme Director in the OSCE Mission's Rule of Law Department.

Nenad Janicevic, the President of country's Bar Association, added: "Only a well-trained lawyer can adequately respond to the attorney's profession and ensure a strong and qualified defence. Hence, one of the main objectives for us is to build up efficient educational mechanisms that will continuously increase defense lawyer's trial techniques, ethical standards and legal knowledge."

Following the completion of the training course, the defence lawyers will transfer their knowledge to their colleagues through a series of 12 one-day regional courses.