Kick-off Meeting of the Project “Modernisation of master programmes for future judges, prosecutors, investigators with respect to European standard on human rights” (CRIMHUM) within ERASMUS+

Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz hospitably hosted the Kick-Off Meeting and Initial Conference of the CRIMHUM-project from 28 April to 2 May 2019.
This event was attended by representatives of the partner organizations: the University of Graz (project coordinator / Austria), the University of Potsdam (Germany), Aix-Marseille Université (France), the Faculty of Law of the University of Rijeka (Croatia), Vilnius University (Lithuania), Belarusian State University (Minsk, Belarus), Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno (Belarus), Lviv National University named after Ivan Franko (Ukraine), Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University (Kharkiv, Ukraine), National University “Odesa Law Academy” (Ukraine), Belarusian Republican Union of Lawyers (NGO, Belarus).
The events were chaired by the project coordinator Professor Gabriele Schmölzer and the project managers Professor Thomas Krüssmann and Associate Professor Vadzim Samaryn.
During the Kick-off Meeting, the project and the participants were welcomed by the Vice-Rector for Studies and Teaching, Prof. Dr. Martin Polaschek and by the Dean of the Law Faculty, Prof. Dr. Johannes Zollner. The participants were greeted by H.E. Oleksandr Scherba, Ambassador of Ukraine to Austria, Mag. Andrei Yaroshkin on behalf of H.E. Alena Kupchyna, Ambassador of the Republic of Belarus to Austria, Abg.z.NR. Prof. Dr. Josef Smolle on behalf of Landeshauptmann Hermann Schützenhöfer.
The project coordinators presented the main idea and goals, forms of interaction of the project partners. Quality Manager Vadzim Samaryn delivered a detailed report on the main stages and content of the project implementation. Then Project Manager Thomas Krüssmann introduced the partner universities from the European Union (Programme Countries). The representatives of the universities from Belarus and Ukraine presented their institutions.
In the evening, the participants attended the reception on behalf of the mayor in the Town Hall, where they also heard information about Graz as the city of Human Rights (the Graz Human Rights Council, Mag. Daniela Grabovac).
The first part of the following day covered a wide range of issues, including discussion of the content and the financial part of the project, its methodology and principles; project managers and logo were adopted, working groups were built, as well as the planned activities for 2019 were discussed. The participants discussed prepared structures of the National Concepts of the new Master program and the questions for the questionnaire as well as the methodology its carrying out.
The preliminary content of the course books was presented by the national teams and discussed. The last part of the event was devoted to the discussion of the books and equipment to be purchased within the project.
The useful part of the conference were study visits: a visit to the management of the High Regional Court and the State Prosecutor’s Office of Styria (the project participants were explained about the system of training for judicial and prosecutorial staff in Austria), a visit to the Museum of Criminology at the Law School of the University of Graz, where the excursion was led by its director Priv.-Doz. MMag. DDr. Christian Bachhiesl.
The host university organized for the participants of the event a city tour with a “climbing” to the Schlossberg mountain.
Participants from Belarus and Ukraine also took the opportunity and attended Eggenberg Palace and the Park nearby.
Following the implementation of the work program of the events, all the planned issues were discussed and a solid foundation was laid for further fruitful and barrier-free work with the project coordinators and partner organizations.