On 11 October 2022, the Council of Europe’s Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) program launched a specialist course on alternative measures to detention for a group of probation officers in Yerevan, Armenia. The event was opened by Deputy Justice Minister Arpin Sargsyan, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Yerevan Leila Zhdanova, Head of Section I, Police Cooperation and Deprivation of Liberty Raluca Ivan and head of the probation service Gevorg Simonyan.

The specialized HELP course which has been translated into Armenian and adapted to the local context presents key terms and principles related to alternative measures to detention as well as European standards. The course covers topics such as community sanctions and measures, substantive and procedural rights, community participation, electronic monitoring, and more. The e-learning program includes presentations, interactive screens, knowledge tests, scenarios and brainstorming exercises to make learning as effective as possible.

The national HELP tutor introduced the content and structure of the course and helped the participants to enroll in the course. The following month, 16 trainees will benefit from this course and the supervision of the national tutor.

The launch event was organized within the framework of the project “Supporting the development of the probation service in Armenia” implemented by the Council of Europe and funded by the Council of Europe Action Plan for the Armenia 2019-2022.