STARLIGHT unlocks the power of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights for 120 human rights lawyers
The two-year novel capacity-building programme by the Hertie School Executive Education and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, concludes in Berlin.
As the rule of law declines, the safety and protection of migrants wane across the EU, and the right to a fair trial is increasingly under threat, human rights lawyers need to be capable now, more than ever, to defend fundamental rights. The STARLIGHT programme, a joint-initiative by Hertie School Executive Education and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC) funded by the EU, has empowered 120 human rights lawyers from across Europe to use the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (the Charter) as a tool for strategic litigation across the project’s two-year period.
Using the Charter in strategic litigation for social impact
This academic year, our second cohort dove into the ins and outs of systemic and social change through litigation using the Charter, focusing on three thematic areas: asylum and migration, criminal justice, and rule of law and civic space. By building relevant cases, wider social change with impact beyond the individual cases can be achieved. The Charter is a powerful but an often-unused tool to bring about such change at the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU).
László Detre, Legal Officer at the HHC and Trainer in the Rule of Law and Civic Space Stream of the STARLIGHT programme, explains how the Charter can be used to protect the Rule of Law through strategic litigation:
Strengthening skills for strategic litigation
Following an intense online training programme, the participants convened in Berlin for a final workshop, geared toward building their practical skills in one of three areas: Documentation and Evidence, Legal Advocacy, or Legal Communications and Public Relations.
Hear STARLIGHT Programme Director Kersty McCourt and Steering Group Member and Co-Chair of the HHC Márta Pardavi share why advocacy is so important and what good legal advocacy looks like:
The STARLIGHT programme closes officially
The STARLIGHT programme will host a closing webinar on Thursday, 12 September 2024, 10:00 – 11:30 CEST.
Please find further information about STARLIGHT here.
The STARLIGHT project is funded by the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme of the European Union.