ENNHRI elected its 2019-21 Board yesterday at its General Assembly meeting in Athens, Greece. The Board is mandated with the responsibility for the management and administration of ENNHRI and will take office in March 2019.

The six institutions that make up the incoming Board are:

• Chair: Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Emily Logan)
• People’s Advocate of Albania (Erinda Ballanca)
• Office of the Ombudswoman of the Republic of Croatia (Lora Vidović)
• Greek National Commission for Human Rights (Maria Gavouneli)
• Norwegian National Human Rights Institution (Petter Wille)
• Polish Commissioner for Human Rights (Miroslaw Wroblewski)

The incoming Chair, Emily Logan (Chief Commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission) will take the place of Lora Vidović (Ombudswoman of Croatia), who will continue to serve on as a Board member.

“At such a challenging time for NHRIs and Human Rights Defenders in Europe, the imperative of working together as a network is even greater”, says Logan. “I look forward to building on the work of the current Chair, Lora Vidović, and the rest of the Board in the coming years.”

Also elected yesterday were the following:

European members of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) Bureau:

• Greek National Commission for Human rights (Maria Gavouneli)
• Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Emily Logan)
• Office of the Ombudswoman of the Republic of Croatia (Lora Vidović)
• People’s Advocate of Albania (Erinda Ballanca)
• Alternate member: Human Rights Defender’s Office of the Republic of Armenia (Arman Tatoyan)

European member of the GANHRI Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA):

• French National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (Magali Lafourcade)

ENNHRI Finance Committee:

• Chair: UNIA – Interfederal Centre for Equal Opportunities of Belgium (Emmanuel Schelfthout)
• Equality and Human Rights Commission of Great Britain (Olufemi Oguntunde)

GANHRI Working Group – Business and Human Rights:

• German Institute for Human Rights (Christopher Schuller)
• Provedor de Justicia (Portugal) (Teresa Anjinho)

GANHRI Working Group – Ageing:

• German Institute for Human Rights (Claudia Mahler)
• Office of the Public Defender of Georgia (Nino Shalamberidze)

GANHRI Working Group – Sustainable Development Goals

• Danish Institute for Human Rights (Birgitte Feiring)

The General Assembly elections came ahead of ENNHRI’s Annual Conference on the role of NHRIs in relation to Human Rights Defenders, taking place on 25th October 2018 in Athens, Greece.

To find out more about the Annual Conference, see:

• Press release
• Publication