The first HELP online course on Data protection and privacy rights was launched on 9 October 2020 in cooperation with the Data Protection Authority of the Republic of San Marino (Autorità garante per la protezione dei dati della Repubblica di San Marino).
During the online launching event,
- Nicola Fabiano, President of the Data Protection Authority,
- Sophie Kwasny, Head of the Data Protection Unit, and
- Eva Pastrana, Head of the HELP Unit, welcomed participants in the course by recalling the challenges that professionals are facing in the field of data protection and the need for such an initiative.
- Valentina Boz presented the Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) including its aim: supporting implementation of European human rights standards at practical level, and main strengths: (i) the network of judicial training institutions and bar councils of the Council of Europe member States, and (ii) the practical online courses accessible to all for free in the HELP online platform.
Gilberto Felici, Judge at the European Court of Human Rights elected in respect of San Marino, provided participants with an overview of the Strasbourg Court case-law with a focus on Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The work of the Consultative Committee of the Convention 108 was presented by its chair, Alessandra Pierucci who mentioned the past and future challenges in the field of data protection. While the core principles contained in Convention 108 have stood the test of time, Convention 108+ was needed to deal with challenges resulting from the use on new information and communication technologies and to strengthen the Convention’s effective implementation.
Following an introduction to the HELP Programme and its online courses, Nicola Fabiano and Filippo Bianchini, HELP national tutors, provided participants with practical information on the course which will be implemented online over a 2-months period.