Georgiana Gheorghe is the executive director of APADOR-CH, a 30-year-old human rights organization based in Bucharest, Romania. She has 13 years of working experience in non-governmental organizations in Central and Eastern Europe (Romania, Hungary, and Latvia). Prior to being appointed director in 2018, she was working mainly on APADOR-CH's criminal justice projects. Through the years she has been involved in research, advocacy and strategic litigation in various human rights areas: access to information of public interest; transparency in the decision-making process; police reform; rights of people deprived of liberty; and rights of people with mental disabilities. Georgiana studied political science at Bucharest University and has an M.A. in international human rights law from the Legal Studies Department of Central European University.

Anna Indra Štefanides is a lawyer and the statutory director of the League of Human Rights in the Czech Republic. She has over seven years of experience in the non-profit sector. Her work focuses primarily on healthcare law and the protection of patients’ rights, as well as on civil society and the rule of law. She holds a law degree from the Faculty of Law, Masaryk University. She has completed professional training in mediation, which informs her approach to conflict resolution and rights-based advocacy. In the past, she served on the Government Council against Torture and participated in the National Convention on Education.

Claire Mc Evoy is Head of Research and Policy with the Irish Council for Civil Liberties. Her work focuses on delivering ICCL’s research outputs across the areas of administration of justice, equality and discrimination, and democratic freedoms. Claire has over two decades of international experience in the realm of policy research and management, focusing on human rights, civic space protection, good governance and inclusive policy-making. Before ICCL she led the OECD’s work on civic space protection, leading activities to support member and partner countries to raise standards related to participatory democracy, civil society engagement, and strengthening media and information ecosystems.

Andrea Oleandri is currently Co-Executive Director of the Italian Coalition for Civil Liberties and Rights (CILD) and Head of Communications at Antigone. He has been working with both organisations since 2014. He has a background in journalism, with previous experience in the media sector as a freelance journalist for several outlets, and has also worked in the public sector. An expert in communication and advocacy, his work focuses primarily on civic space, criminal justice, the rule of law, migration and freedom of expression, through the drafting of reports and policy briefs, as well as participation in public events and hearings before national and international governmental and non-governmental institutions. He coordinates projects and teams working on the defence of civil liberties.

Pierre-Arnaud Perrouty is the executive director of the Belgian Human Rights League (Ligue des droits humains), a 120-year-old organization based in Brussels. He holds a degree in law from Brussels University (ULB) and in European law from Oxford University. He has over 20 years of experience in human rights, with a special focus on civil liberties, equality and diversity issues. He also has extensive experience in strategic litigation, both in Belgium and before European and international courts and committees. He is a Board member of Unia, an independent public institution promoting equality and fighting discrimination, and of Myria, the Federal Migration Center. He is also an appointed member of the Belgian Deontology Press Council. He is regularly invited in the media to comment on human rights issues.

Regitze H. Rohlfing has many years of experience working on issues of civil society, human rights, and democracy. Her career spans multiple sectors, including the Danish central administration, academia, and the non-profit sector, giving her valuable insight into how to achieve results and drive progress across different contexts. She is currently Head of Research and Analysis and Constituted Director at Nyt Europa, where she works to promote a just and sustainable Europe for all. A key focus of her work is how civil society can use European law to defend democratic principles.