The KulTour “Rule of Law” workshop organised by the #YesYou Initiative under the auspices of the Delegation of the European Union was held at the EU Info Centre. Thanks to the expert assistance of Ivona Dragutinovic at the programme office of the Council of Europe in Montenegro, 22 high school students from Podgorica who participated in the workshop (the Secondary School of Economics “Mirko Vesovic,” the Secondary School of Electrical Engineering “Vaso Aligrudic,” the Secondary Vocational School “Ivan Uskokovic,”and the High School “Slobodan Skerovic”) had the opportunity to get better acquainted with human rights.
The aim of the activities was to highlight for participants and bring closer the importance of human rights, the scope of rights protected by the Council of Europe Convention on Human Rights, and to discuss the current developments in the Montenegrin and European society through the human rights protection framework.
The introductory part contained a presentation by the Council of Europe, the European Court of Human Rights and the Convention on Human Rights through discussions with participants. With an introductory speech on these important topics related to human rights, participants had the opportunity to choose one of the three “most famous” legal professions – a judge, prosecutor or a lawyer. In addition to choosing a profession, they presented and argued their choice.
The core of the event was the presentation of the work of the European Court of Human Rights. Starting with an educational video aimed at bringing the activities of the court closer, the territorial spread of its influence and importance in Europe, some of the most prominent judgments of the European Court of Human Rights were presented. The participants of the workshop were introduced to the case law through the cases of Mgn Ltd. v. United Kingdom and Hannover v Germany, where famous people are highlighted, thus showing that everyone is equal before the court, both in protection and the scope of rights.
Participants had the opportunity to discuss, ask questions, and actively participate. During the event, they expressed great interest in the different cases, as well as in the information about the difference between the legal and moral attitude and position through the slogan from the Anglo-American practice “What’s legal is not always right.”
This was followed by a discussion on the current events in the field of security online, as well as human rights violations via the Internet. In this stage of the workshop gained the maximum participation by all participants, who through individual presentations had the opportunity to get answers to their concerns, expand the sphere of human rights to daily lives (and on the Internet), point out the importance of human rights awareness, as well as emphasise the obligation of cultural behaviour on social networks just as in everyday life.
Finally, the participants had the opportunity to get acquainted with the concept of the “Ticking time bomb” through the case of the European Court of Human Rights Gäfgen v. Germany. The controversy of the concept gave participants the opportunity to understand that even in urgent situations, even when it’s required to protect the life of an individual, it is important to respect the human rights of all persons (specifically Article 3 of the Convention on Human Rights – No one shall be subjected to torture, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment).
Participants had the opportunity to present their position on a case through the legal profession they had chosen at the beginning and to present how they would act themselves in a situation requiring them to decide – either to sue or defend.