The Centre for Constitutionalism and Human Rights has succeeded in the European Jean Monnet competition in the field of higher education by winning the Jean Monet Module project. This is the first time in history that a European Union project has come to the Faculty of Law of the Charles University to support teaching and research in the field of European Studies. The success is all the greater because the module is not only awarded within the EU Member States, but in a truly pan-European competition.

 

The Centre has achieved success with the project 'Human Rights in the European Constitutional System' (HRECO), the core of which is the creation and teaching of a compulsory elective course of the same name, which will be taught in both the summer and winter semesters for a minimum of three years. Within the course and a number of related activities, UK students will have the opportunity to learn in detail about the theory and practice of human rights protection in the EU, linked, of course, primarily to the application of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, an area that has not been taught comprehensively at the Faculty of Law so far.

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The course Human Rights in the European Constitutional System I (winter semester) will focus on more general theoretical and systematic issues related to the functioning of human rights protection within the EU. The emphasis will be on the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, its origin, content, application and relationship to the ECHR, as well as the role of individual EU institutions, in particular the European Court of Human Rights. The course will also focus on the role of the EU Charter, and the role of the EU Court of Justice in the protection of human rights. It will also focus on the interaction between the development of EU human rights standards and their application by Member States. The knowledge and skills acquired in the winter semester will then be applied in the course Human Rights in the European Constitutional System II (summer semester). Here, attention will be paid to current selected issues of the protection of specific rights, especially in relation to so-called vulnerable groups such as LGBT+ persons, migrants, or members of ethnic or religious minorities.

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The guarantor of the course will be Prof. Helena Hofmannová, who will organize and teach the course together with Mgr. Karel Repa. A number of internationally renowned legal scholars such as Prof. Christopher McCrudden, Prof. Moritz Jesse, Prof. Darinka Piqani and Prof. Sasha Gajin will also be involved in the teaching.

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Students not only get the opportunity to learn a lot of new knowledge, but also the opportunity to actively develop their skills.

In both courses, students will write an essay as a form of wrapping up the course.The best essays will then be selected for publication in an official electronic anthology.Students will also be able to present the results of their research at a final public workshop on current issues of human rights protection in the EU.

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The Centre hopes that students of Charles University will not miss the opportunity to take part in this unique project. It is planned to be implemented as early as the next academic year (2023/2024); i.e. the course Human Rights in the European Constitutional System I will be available for enrolment already for the following winter semester. We are currently preparing our own website for the project and will inform you about further updates soon.