The Contemporary Human Rights Situation in Central and Eastern Europe

The publication “The Contemporary Human Rights Situation in Central and Eastern Europe” is a result of shared design between the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, Russia and Central Asia, office in exile, Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom for Central Europe and the Baltic States, and the Novum Institute from Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Forthcoming event is going to debate with contributing authors, analyzing contemporary human rights situation in Hungary, Russia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Belorussia and Poland. Each had the freedom to focus on the issues they regard to be pressing in their country.

At the time of multiple crises across Europe and the world, we believe Europe’s communication with itself is of utmost importance. At the same time, the dialogue between cultural communities should be supported by knowledgeable information sharing and respectful debate. While the political context in the selected countries differs we wish to stimulate an exchange of opinions within a broader European framework to examine recurring patterns and identify some common challenges facing human rights.

Dr. Lars-André Richter is the new head of the Baltic States/Central Europe office of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF), based in Prague. From 2012 to 2018 he headed the FNF office in Seoul, South Korea, and from 2018 to 2023 the Foundation’s office in Buenos Aires, Argentina. After studying humanities in Tübingen, Leipzig, Paris and Berlin, Richter received his doctorate in 2008 from Humboldt University in Berlin.

Anna Ayvazyan is a Senior Project Coordinator at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation. Anna holds a PhD degree in Political Sciences, her research focus is the EU foreign policy in the Eastern Partnership countries.

Alja Stanko has been a part of the Novum team since 2013. In the past, she spent three years working on projects for Transparency International Slovenia. She has worked in the energy sector for the last five years, first in photovoltaics, and later in gas and infrastructure. In November 2022 she was elected as city councillor in Vrhnika.

Erik Uszkiewicz earned his law degree from the Eötvös Loránd University Faculty of Law in 2011 and his Ph.D. from the same university in 2022. In the recent past, Erik worked for various civil society organizations as a researcher and project manager, currently, he is one of the vice-chairpersons of the Hungarian Europe Society and working as a communication and business development manager at a law firm based in Budapest. Erik is involved both in domestic and international research projects, which are related to human rights, hate crimes, the rule of law, fake news and disinformation. Since completing his legal studies, he has been a guest lecturer at Hungarian higher education institutions, furthermore, he has authored and co-authored numerous publications. In addition to Hungarian, he fluently speaks English and Spanish, while he is a beginner in Italian.

Elena A. Lukyanova is Professor and co-rector of Free Moscow University (Brīvā Universitāte – Latvija) and Director of the Agency of Law Enforcement Effectiveness Monitoring (Russia). Previously, until August 2020, she worked as Professor of Department of Constitutional and Municipal Law at the Faculty of Law of National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow).

Nedim Hogic holds an LLB from University of Sarajevo, LLM from Harvard Law School and a PhD in Law from Sant’ Anna School of Advanced Studies. He has authored a number of articles in the field of corruption studies, international law and rule of law and development. He has advised clients in the private and public sector on the approaches to environmental, social and good governance issues. Specifically, he has consulted local and international actors on capacity building of parliaments and political parties in Southeastern Europe and on development of anti-corruption policies. Currently, he is writing a book on the judicial anti- corruption campaigns.

Mikalaj Packaeu is a legal researcher and international political risk consultant. Mikalaj received his M.Phil degree in Political Science from the University of Cambridge, UK. He is the Chair of the Association of Belarusians in Great Britain (Est. 1946), London, UK.

Michał Tęcza is a Human rights expert and Educational Programs Coordinator at Projekt: Polska. He is a trainer with over ten years of experience, facilitator, specialist in the field of psychological help and crisis intervention. Among others he is focuses on issues like equality, diversity, inclusivity and sexuality education. He works with different minority groups, e.g. people with disabilities, LGBT+ people, national and ethnic minorities cooperating in this area with organizations from Poland and abroad.

Sebastjan Pikl is a founder and present director of the NOVUM institute, an institute for strategic and applicable research, active in the fields of policy analysis, international relations, political communication, and visual media based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. He is also a co-founder of several other policy oriented organisations and social entrepreneur. In the past years Sebastjan served as an advisor to various communications projects, including the campaign for the former president of Republic of Slovenia, Danilo Türk.

The project is supported by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom. The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom is not responsible for the content of this project, or for any use that may be made of it. The views expressed herein are those of the author(s)/organiser(s)/speaker(s) alone. These views do not necessarily reflect those of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom.