UNESCO and the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights at the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford, have developed a new multilingual version of a joint online training course to promote international and regional standards on freedom of expression for judicial actors. This free, five-week online course will run from 29 May until 30 June 2023.
This Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), which will be launched on 29 May 2023, aims to strengthen the role of judicial actors, especially judges, prosecutors, lawyers and representatives of judicial training institutes, in promoting freedom of expression standards and its corollaries, freedom of the press, access to information and the safety of journalists. The MOOC will cover in particular (1) the general principles and scope of freedom of expression; (2) the limitations on freedom of expression; (3) the right of access to information; (4) the safety of journalists; and (5) challenges created by the digital world. A description of each module is included in the Annex of this letter.
This free five-week online programme is specifically designed for judicial actors (e.g., judicial branches, public ministries, public defenders, electoral courts, human rights ombudsmen, judicial law clerks) from all justice systems around the world, to strengthen their knowledge and capacities on international and regional standards on freedom of expression, access to information and the safety of journalists.
The MOOC will be available in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Portuguese, and will build on the highly successful joint UNESCO-Bonavero Institute global MOOC on freedom of expression which was delivered in English in 2021.
In the framework of this programme, UNESCO has built strong cooperation with key
institutions and partners and has in particular signed a series of Memoranda of Understanding with regional human rights courts -such as the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the ECOWAS Court of Justice, the East African Court of Justice, and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights- as well as with judicial institutions including the International Association of Prosecutors and the Ibero-American Association of Public Prosecutors.
Key decisions from these regional human rights courts will be presented and discussed during the course, which will be led by experts in the field of human rights and freedom of expression and will include high-level guest speakers such as UN Special Rapporteurs, judges from regional human rights courts, prosecutors, and human rights lawyers.
This free, five-week online course will run from 29 May until 30 June 2023.
- Pre-registration for the course is now open through the following link:
* We will shortly notify you by email of the next steps to finalize the registration process.
A certificate of completion will be issued for participants who will successfully complete the course.