By Dobrinka Chankova and Zeynep Reva
- Universities can play an important role in turning the Méndez Principles from international standards into everyday professional practice.
- Teaching, research and student engagement can introduce future justice professionals to human rights-based and evidence-informed interviewing before professional habits are formed.
- Our experiences in Türkiye and Bulgaria show how academia can connect the Principles with national debates, professional practice and the next generation of justice professionals.
Five years after the adoption of the Méndez Principles, the challenge is not only to make them better known, but to make them part of professional culture and everyday practice.
Universities have an important role in this process, educating future justice professionals while creating spaces where established practices can be questioned and new approaches explored. Through COST Action CA22128 ImpleMéndez, we have both been exploring how academia can help bring the Principles into practice in Türkiye and Bulgaria.
Türkiye: From the Human Rights Classroom to Wider Academic Engagement (Zeynep Reva)
My experience of promoting the Méndez Principles in Türkiye began in the classroom. At Özyeğin University, I dedicated one week of my Human Rights Law course entirely to the Principles. To our knowledge, this was the first time they had been incorporated into a law course in Türkiye in this way.
Rather than simply learning another set of international principles, students considered a practical question: What should a fair, effective and human rights-based interview actually look like? We discussed rapport-building, open-ended questioning, active listening and, importantly, the shift from seeking confessions to gathering accurate and reliable information.
This is particularly valuable in legal education, as today’s students may become tomorrow’s prosecutors, judges and lawyers. If interviewing culture is to change, the university classroom is a good place to start.
We then took the Principles beyond the classroom. On 11 May 2026, Özyeğin University hosted the international symposium “Five Years of the Méndez Principles: From Vision to Practice”, in cooperation with COST Action ImpleMéndez. Under my supervision, eight undergraduate law students prepared seven poster presentations connecting the Principles with judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. Rather than simply listening to experts, they examined real cases involving vulnerability, coercion, legal assistance and the reliability of statements.
Research has been another part of this journey. Given the limited Turkish-language academic literature on the Méndez Principles, together with a research assistant in Criminal and Criminal Procedure Law, I prepared an academic study examining investigative interviewing from the human rights-based perspective of the Principles.
Our work within ImpleMéndez has also helped connect academia with professional practice through developing cooperation with the Turkish National Police Academy, exploring engagement with the Human Rights Centre of the Istanbul Bar Association, and working on AI-supported simulation models for investigative interviewing.
What began in a Human Rights Law classroom has therefore expanded into student engagement, research, international cooperation and dialogue with practitioners. The experience shows that universities can play an important role in shaping a professional culture in which the Méndez Principles become everyday practice.
Bulgaria: From Research and Academic Engagement to Practice (Dobrinka Chankova)
Until recently, the Méndez Principles were almost unknown to Bulgarian investigative and law enforcement authorities and, accordingly, not largely applied, as confirmed by an empirical study in 20251. They possess only fragmentary knowledge, obtained in a non-systematic way - Internet, seminars, etc. Bulgaria, as an EU member state, is committed to transposing European Directives into criminal proceedings and to complying with the standards for effective investigation defined by the ECtHR's case law. In this sense, one can speak of a certain underestimation of the universal instruments.
In the same empirical study, which also included representatives of the academic staff, and based on personal observations, it was found that the Méndez Principles are not studied, except as an initiative of far-sighted professors at separate universities. Even my personal involvement was more than modest – a few lectures as part of training in Human Rights Protection and Criminal Procedure Law at the Faculty of Law at Varna Free University.
The big change began to occur with COST Action CA22128 ImpleMéndez, which mobilized enormous energy among lecturers from Varna Free University and Sofia University. The Méndez Principles have become the subject of serious research and publications by Bulgarian authors, both in the country and abroad2, with more substantial works forthcoming. They became part of the agenda of several conferences at various universities - Sofia University, New Bulgarian University, Varna Free University /VFU/, and other organizations. The reports presented provoked enormous interest in additional information and training among both students and the attending investigative bodies. For this purpose, invitations were sent to academics exploring the topic. Preparations for two trainings are underway - as part of the continuing education of investigators from the Varna Region and as part of the curriculum of education of young magistrates of the National Institute of Justice. The shared understanding is that, to make a difference, the entire criminal justice system should be trained.
A particularly big boost was given by the translation, printing and distribution of the Méndez Principles into Bulgarian in 2025 – thanks to COST and APT, and the visit of Prof. David Walsh to VFU in April 2026, with a lecture and a very extensive interview for Radio Varna, and at a conference in Sofia, together with Prof. Ray Bull and other colleagues from the COST project.
Our common understanding is that from ad hoc initiatives we should move to a systemic approach and the training on the Méndez Principles should be institutionalized. At VFU, preparations are already underway to incorporate the Méndez Principles into the university curriculum for students in law, psychology, national security, and other relevant specialties. At this stage, the idea is to offer it as an optional course, taught in English, with the tentative name "Contemporary Standards for Investigative Interviewing", so that it can also be studied by Erasmus and other foreign students and to ensure wider dissemination. At the same time the basics of the Principles will be included as a mandatory element in core disciplines – Forensics, Criminal Procedure Law, Human Rights, etc. We believe this will ensure future practitioners graduate with the knowledge needed to drive significant transformation in investigative interviewing. In the meantime, several postgraduate training courses for professionals from all over the country are in the process of planning. For all this, the APT document - Shifting Mindsets, Transforming Practice: An Implementation Guide for the Méndez Principles - is particularly useful.
Looking Ahead
Our experiences in Türkiye and Bulgaria show that there is no single route for bringing the Méndez Principles into practice, but academia offers an important place to start.
A classroom discussion can influence a future justice professional, research can challenge established practices, and university initiatives can bring students, academics and practitioners together.
Five years on, one of the most promising ways to advance the Méndez Principles may also be one of the simplest: introduce them to the people who will shape the justice systems of tomorrow, while they are still learning today.