Who we are
History
Rooted in civil society, EuroMed Rights seeks to develop and strengthen partnerships between NGOs in the Euro-Mediterranean region, advocate for human rights values and develop capacities in this regard.
Following the launch of the Barcelona Process in 1995, a group of human rights activists from both sides of the Mediterranean believed that they could make a positive impact on the human rights situation by creating a civil society network, linking up the Barcelona Process to Human Rights NGOs operating in the region.
EuroMed Rights was one of the first international organisations to officially establish an office in Tunisia following the ousting of Ben Ali. Now a Maghreb Office, the ambition is to assist members and emerging civil society develop their work in a new Tunisia and elswhere in the Maghreb. Thus, EuroMed Rights has become a key partner for civil society capacity building across the country, facilitating dialogue between local civil society, government institutions. Having established its credibility on both sides of the Mediterranean, EuroMed Rights is now widely recognised as a key organisation for civil society and decision-makers alike.
In 2018, the General Assembly elected Wadih Al-Asmar, President of Lebanese Center for Human Rights as its new president.
Our Offices
EuroMed Rights has its headquarters in Copenhagen and other offices in Brussels and Tunis (Maghreb Office). EuroMed Rights prides itself on its dedicated and diverse staff committed to the promotion and respect of human rights in the region.
For more in formation on how to contact a member of staff or on any given theme/country we cover, please visit our page: Contact Us
Mission, Values and Objectives
The mission of EuroMed Rights is to promote and strengthen human rights and democratic reform in the Euro-Mediterranean region. Rooted in civil society, the network develops and strengthens partnerships between non-governmental organisations (NGOs), disseminates human rights values, advocates for them and increases the capabilities of local partners in this regard.
EuroMed Rights' vision is to serve as a leading human rights forum in the region, and a major source of knowledge and action on human rights and democratic reform.
According to EuroMed Rights' statutes, the key objectives of the organisation are:
- To support and promote the universal principles of human rights as established by all the international instruments.
- To support the development of democratic institutions and the rule of law, in particular freedom of association, equality between men and women, sustainable development and respect for economic and social rights.
- To fight against discrimination, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
- To support existing NGOs to strengthen civil society and support, assist and co-ordinate the efforts of its members.
- To support the creation of new and autonomous NGOs.
- To support and protect human rights defenders whose rights are violated.
- To promote human rights education and act in favour of peace and the right of peoples to manage their own destinies.
- To promote dialogue and solidarity between peoples and cultures in the region.
For more information, read the following documents (or scroll through all our Core documents on our e-library):
- Work Programme and Strategy 2018 - 2021 (adopted at the 2018 Generaly Assembly)
- Activity Report 2015 - 2017
- Financial report 2017
Executive Committee
The members of the Executive Committee (EC) are elected by the General Assembly for a period of three years, and they may be re-elected for two further terms. EC members are also appointed as political referents for different focus areas, thus acting as the link between the Working Groups and the EC.
The EC gives guidelines for EuroMed Rights' activities and consults with the members on important issues relating to the Network policy in between General Assemblies (every three years). As stipulated in EuroMed Rights statutes, the EC strives to be composed of equal numbers of men and women. The President and Vice-President may not be of the same sex.
Among other things, the EC is responsible for:
- Preparing the program of activities and budgets to be submitted to the General Assembly meeting;
- Submitting the Network’s annual Report of Activities and annual Financial Reports;
- Creating working committees, and establish ad hoc or permanent working groups to design specific policies and programs and ensure the effective delivery of the mandate/agenda of the Network;
- Implementing the EuroMed Rights Policy Paper on Gender Equality
- Overseeing the work of the various Network structures or Working groups;
- Enhance and facilitate communication among the members of the Network.
Read the last EC meetings minutes here.
The current Executive Committee, elected at the General Assembly in 2018 (June 23-24), is composed of the following members:
Wadih Al-Asmar
President
Wadih Al-Asmar is co-founder and secretary general of the movement SOLIDA (support of Lebanese detained arbitrarily), co-founder and President of the CLDH (Lebanese Center for Human Rights) and co-founder and secretary general of the FEMED (euro-Mediterranean federation against enforced disappearance). Since the summer 2015, Wadih is one of the founders of the Lebanese social movement #youStink (#tol3etRy7otkoun), which actively participated in organizing and supporting most of social demonstration during the last Garbage crisis in Lebanon.
Catherine Teule
Vice President
Catherine Teule is the Vice President of the European Association for the Defense of Human Rights (AEDH). She also worked at the French Human Rights League (LDH) as a General Secretary first, then as the Vice President. Now, she’s particularly interested in issues concerning the right of asylum and migration. She publishes articles and briefings on these themes, and provides training sessions and debates at community and trade union level.
Moataz El Fegiery
Treasurer
Moataz El Fegiery is a member of the board of directors of Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) and president of the executive committee of its headquarters in Geneva. He was the executive director of CIHRS until 2010 and served as MENA deputy director of the International Centre for Transitional Justice. El Fegiery is currently MENA protection coordinator for Front Line Defenders and co-founder and secretary general of the Egyptian Human Rights Forum. He received his PhD in Law from SOAS, University of London.
David Bondia
David Bondia is President of the Human Rights Institute of Catalonia (Spain) and has been involved in a number of human rights organisations for many years (i.e. board member of the Solidarity Foundation of the University of Barcelona, member of the Catalan Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture…). David Bondia has been a professor in public international law and international relations at the University of Barcelona since 1995.
Theodora Christou
Theodora Christou has been an elected executive member of the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales since 2008. She is a barrister and an academic teaching at the London School of Economics and at Queen Mary University of London. She has, among other things, submitted complaints, reports and cases to UN and regional human rights organs, conducted scoping missions, and carried out trial observations and capacity building. She has worked in over 20 countries across Europe, Africa and the Middle East on projects involving 80 jurisdictions. Her primary areas of expertise are human rights, international and comparative law, EU law, Transnational law and governance.
Lubna Dawany
Lubna Dawany is one of the founders, a member of the board and the secretary general of Mizan for Law (Jordan). Lubna was one of six women founders of SIGI/J, and its President from 2014 to 2017. She is the Legal Advisor and Board Member of Family Development Association. Since the 1990s, she co-founded a number of NGOs in Jordan to fight violence against women, human rights and women rights. She worked with women prisoners, women refugees, battered women and women at risk. She is a lawyer and a legal advisor by profession. Since 2016, she has been working as a Senior Legal Advisor managing American Bar Association office in Bahrain and the Gulf. She won the 2017 Humanitarian Award from Beverly Hills/LA for working with women in danger in Jordan.
Søs Nissen
Søs Nissen is working as the Programme manager for the MENA region at Dignity, Denmark. She has worked for 10 years with the Danish anti-torture NGO to support human rights work against torture in the region. Prior to that, she was active on Danish advocacy and solidarity work to support the Palestinian cause for many years.
Radostina Pavlova
Radostina Pavlova is a legal advisor and advocacy officer at the Center for Legal Aid – Voice in Bulgaria. Since 2014, she is member of the Governing Council of the organisation. For many years, she has been involved in migration and asylum issues as an activist and as a jurist, including as a consultant and researcher on migration, human trafficking, freedom of information and human rights issues.
Sara Prestianni
Sara Prestianni is the Advocacy and International Relations Officer at the Migration Office of ARCI (Associazione Ricreativa e Culturale Italiana). She is also a university professor in international relations at Political Sciences Toulouse and Link University in Rome. Sara Prestianni also acts as an expert advising institutions such as the Italian government or the European Parliament on issues related to international politics or human rights.
Messaoud Romdhani
Messaoud Romdhani is a founding member and vice-president of the newly admitted member Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES). He also acts as vice-president of the Tunisian Human Rights League. In 2008, he was the spokesperson for the Committee supporting the mining region revolt. He is currently the publication director at the Committee for the Respect of Liberties and Human Rights in Tunisia (CRLDHT).
Jamila Sayouri
Jamila Sayouri is the President of the Moroccan association Adala – Justice for the right to a fair trial. She is also a lawyer in Rabat and founding member of the Union for Feminine Action. Member of the Moroccan Organisation for Human Rights (OMDH) since 1999, Jamila Sayouri is a founding member of the center “Annajda” which was created in 1996 to help women victims of domestic violence. She is also member of the Moroccan National Council for Human Rights.
Kamel Jendoubi
Honorary President
Kamel Jendoubi was the President of EuroMed Rights from 2003 to 2012 and is a member and president of several organisations defending human rights. In Tunisia, he presided the High independent instance for the elections (Instance supérieure indépendante pour les élections – ISIE) between 2011 and 2014 and was the Minister in charge of relations with constitutional institutions and civil society, and of human rights between 2015 and 2016. In 2017-2018, Kamel Jendoubi was appointed by the United Nations High Commissionner for Human Rights as the Chairman of a Group of international and regional experts to investigate human rights violations in Yemen.
General Assembly
The General Assembly is the supreme body of EuroMed Rights and meets every three years to decide on:
- Election of president and members of the executive committee;
- Admission and exclusion of members;
- Amendment of the Statutes;
- Adoption of activity and financial reports;
- The general direction of the Network;
- Adoption of activity programmes on the basis of recommendations submitted by the Executive Committee;
- Provisional budgets;
- Membership fees;
- Conferral of honorary status on individuals upon recommendations from the Executive Committee.