In February 2010, EHRAC conducted a two-day training seminar in Tbilisi, Georgia, on litigating European Court cases arising from the South Ossetian conflict of 2008. The seminar was held in conjunction with Article 42 of the Constitution - a Tbilisi-based NGO whose mission is to promote the establishment of the rule of law in Georgia - and with the support of the Netherlands Helsinki Committee.
Thirteen participants from Article 42 were joined by seven lawyers from other local NGOs and private practice. Nearly all the participants were litigating conflict cases before the European Court of Human Rights and between them were representing several hundred applicants. They were engaged, informed and highly motivated, which meant that the seminar could be pitched at a high level and focus in detail upon the particular challenges involved in litigating this type of case.
The sessions covered specific topics such as questions of jurisdiction, ongoing property violations, discrimination, exhaustion of domestic remedies and evidential issues. Recent European Court judgments in Georgian cases were reviewed and legal clinics were held at the end of each day.
Feedback from the seminar was extremely positive and comments from participants reflected the highly practical nature of the course:
“The seminar covered issues that are central to our daily work.”
“The issues we discussed will be taken into consideration during the course of my work.”
“It was very interesting and useful - I’ll definitely use what I learnt.”
