The Council of Europe (CoE) Programme Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) aims at increasing the capacities of professionals at the national level to apply human rights standards in their daily work. Since 2015 the Programme offers high-quality training on human rights to a wide range of professionals: judges, prosecutors, prison and probation staff, lawyers, law enforcement officers, etc.
In 2020 HELP launched the EU-CoE project ‘HELP Radicalisation prevention, Judicial response to terrorism & International cooperation in criminal matters’ (RP-TERR-ICCM) in partnership with the Confederation of European Probation (CEP). Under the framework of this project, probation staff have had the opportunity to benefit from various training and networking activities, including a series of European seminars on related topics; tutored versions of the course on Radicalisation prevention specifically tailored to probation services; and a High-level Conference on countering cross-border crime.
Since its launch, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, a total of 558 professionals from all EU member states have participated in the project activities, of whom 223 were prison and probation staff.
Why HELP courses?
HELP courses constitute an excellent resource for prison and probation staff, allowing them to deepen their knowledge and skills on different topics related to their daily work. These are some of the advantages:
What courses are relevant for probation officers?
HELP currently has a catalogue of 39 courses on many different topics related to human rights: from bioethics to trafficking in human beings, medicrime, refugee and migrant children, Human rights in sports, etc.
Courses that can be more relevant to probation staff include:
How to do a HELP Course?
The courses available on the HELP e-learning platform can be accessed by anyone at any time. The only requirement is to open an account on the platform (i.e. create a username and password). These are self-learning courses that users can do, in different languages, at their own pace.
There is also the option of joining a tutored course organised by the CEP, under the RP-TERR-ICCM or another project, for a selected group of participants, guided by a tutor who adapts the curses to your professional context (i.e. probation). Please check the CEP website for upcoming courses.
Keep up to date with the latest developments, stories, and updates on probation from across Europe and beyond. Find relevant news and insights shaping the field today.
Interventions Alliance has published a new evaluation of a Hub coordinated on behalf of police forces in the south of England, focused on tackling violence against women and children through a whole family approach. The Hub supports victims and perpetrators of domestic abuse and works across policing, health and social services.
New updates from the European Commission highlight key priorities for judicial training in Europe, alongside new tools supporting transparency and access to data.
Today, 25 November, marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls. It is a global reminder, recognised by UNESCO and the wider international community, of the urgent need to prevent violence, support those affected by it, and strengthen collective action. The day also opens the 16 Days of Activism, a worldwide campaign that calls for sustained engagement to end all forms of violence against women and girls.
From 18-20 November 2025, 15th Plenary Meeting of the Council for Penological Co-operation took part in Council of Europe, Strasbourg. CEP was represented by President Annie Devos, Vice-Presidents Danijela Mrhar Prelic (PC-CP member) and Daniel Danglades and Secretary General Jana Spero Kamenjarin.
The CEP Expert Group on Mental Health met on 19 November 2025 to continue its work on developing a European mental health training curriculum for probation officers. Since last year, the group has been working intensively and meticulously to produce a solid first version of the curriculum.
CEP has released the first cross-European study examining stress, burnout, and morale among probation staff. The report was produced by Professor Charlie Brooker, Professor Karen Tocque, Professor Ioan Durnescu and Liliana Lupsica, whose combined expertise in public health, criminology, and organisational analysis provides an important contribution to our understanding of well-being in probation work.
