Our Team

About Liberties

Liberties brings you information, news and analysis on civil liberties in the European Union. We source original articles on EU and national issues direct from our member NGOs and our expert staff in Brussels and Berlin. Our website hosts different kinds of materials.

First, educational materials, like blogs, info-graphics and videos designed to allow members of the public to learn more about their rights and freedoms and what the EU and national authorities are doing to protect or harm their civil liberties.

Second, we host campaigns on the website to give the public the chance to act together on rights issues that we think need urgent attention.

Third, we provide news and analysis to update you on the latest developments in Brussels and in the countries where we have members.

Fourth, we provide legal analysis, policy papers and studies aimed at experts and decision-makers working on civil liberties in EU affairs. To help as many people as possible get access to our information, we translate our work into several European languages.

Members of Our Board

Nancy MacPherson (Independent Board Member)

Nancy is the former Managing Director for Evaluation at the Rockefeller Foundation where she was responsible for setting up and managing the Foundation’s evaluation system from 2008-2018. Prior to her work in philanthropy, she worked in Canada, Asia, Africa and Switzerland for 25 years in international development with indigenous peoples, not-for-profit organizations, and government and UN agencies. She set up and managed IUCN’s Program Evaluation System and served as Special Advisor to the IUCN Director General on Performance Assessment and Oversight. She played a key role in the establishment and nurturing of a number of global and regional development evaluation professional associations, and networks, notably, the International Development Evaluation Association (IDEAS) and the African Evaluation Association (AfrEA). Nancy was a member of the teaching faculty at the World Bank’s summer International Program for Development Evaluation Training (IPDET) from 2001-2011 and she is the recipient of the 2015 American Evaluation Association’s (AEA) Enhancing the Public Good Award, presented to an individual whose evaluation work has substantially contributed to the public good.

Małgorzata Szuleka (Vice-President of the Board)

Malgorzata Szuleka is head of advocacy at the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in Poland, one of Europe’s leading human rights NGOs. Since the onset of Poland’s constitutional crisis in 2015, Szuleka has documented the attacks on courts, focusing on the independence of the judiciary, threats to the rule of law and democratic backsliding, and the shrinking space of civil society. She has coordinated research with the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights on behalf of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights on multiple human rights issues, including child participation in civil and criminal justice, severe forms of labor exploitation, and victim support services in the EU. Szuleka received her degree in law from the University of Warsaw.

Andrea Menapace (President of the Board)

Andrea is the executive director of CILD (Italian Coalition for Civil Liberties and Rights). He previously worked for the Transparency & Accountability Initiative in London and was a researcher for Italy at the Open Government Partnership. Always active in the field of human rights, he began his career as a humanitarian worker before becoming a consultant and researcher for governments as well as non-governmental and international organizations. Co-founder of Diritto Di Sapere (Right To Know), the first Italian organization working on the right of access to information, he graduated in law at the University of Trento.

Krassimir Kanev (Treasurer)

Dr. Krassimir Kanev graduated in 1982 from Sofia University. Specialized Human Rights and Religious Freedom at Columbia University in 1996-97. For 10 years he taught an introductory course on international human rights at Sofia State University. Has also taught sociology, sociology of law, critical social theory, environmental studies and international human rights in a number of colleges and universities in Bulgaria and abroad, among them the Plovdiv State University, the University of Oregon, the University of Sarajevo and the Central European University. Since 2003 teaches online courses for a US-based organization Human Rights Education Associates (HREA) for human rights professionals. Has taught courses on UN mechanisms for human rights protection for lawyers from several East European countries. Started human rights work in 1988. Has been and continues to be an activist in a number of human rights and environmental NGOs. Since 1994 – Director of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee. In the past, he has also been member of the boards of a number of international human rights NGOs and institutions. At present, he is Vice-President of the European Prison Litigation Network, director emeritus of PILnet, member of the Management Board of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency, member of the Board of the Association for the Prevention of Torture and member of the Board of the International Partnership for human rights. Dr Kanev successfully represents clients before the European Court of Human Rights on a variety of human rights violations.

Natalija Bitiukova (Board Member)

Natalija Bitiukova is a data protection lawyer based in Copenhagen, Denmark. She also serves on the boards of the Lithuania-based watchdog Human Rights Monitoring Institute (HRMI) and Berlin-based non-profit Civil Liberties Union for Europe. Natalija researches the implications of online manipulation and data misuse for democratic processes and has recently co-authored the study commissioned by the European Parliament (LIBE) on the impact of propaganda on the functioning of the rule of law in the EU. Before that, Natalija completed a traineeship with the European Data Protection Supervisor where she contributed to the Supervisor’s Opinion on Online Manipulation and Personal Data and held a position of the Deputy Director of the Human Rights Monitoring Institute where she led legal work in the areas of digital rights, rule of law and criminal justice.

Core Team

Orsolya Reich - Advocacy Officer (o.reich@liberties.eu)

Israel Butler - Head of Advocacy (i.butler@liberties.eu)

Jascha Galaski - Advocacy Officer (j.galaski@liberties.eu)

Balázs Dénes - Executive Director (b.denes@liberties.eu)

György Folk - Editor-in-Chief (gy.folk@liberties.eu)

Vanja Prokic - Head of Communications (v.prokic@liberties.eu)

Eva Simon - Advocacy Officer (eva.simon@liberties.eu)

Michaela Brzezinka - Operations Manager (m.brzezinka@liberties.eu)

Jonathan Day - Head of Video Advocacy (jday@liberties.eu)

Member Organizations

Belgium

Member Organisation: Ligue des Droits Humains (LDH) (Belgique francophone)

Contact person: Camille Van Durme (cvandurme at liguedh dot be)

Bulgaria

Member Organisation: Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC)

Contact person: Raya Raeva raya dot raeva at bghelsinki dot org)

Croatia

Member Organisation: Centre for Peace Studies

Contact person: Lovorka Šošić ( lovorka dot sosic at cms dot hr)

Czech Republic

Member Organisation: Czech League of Human Rights

Contact person: Denisa Kramářová (denisa dot kramarova at llp dot cz), Dan Petrucha (dan dot petrucha at llp dot cz)

Estonia

Member Organisation: Estonian Human Rights Centre

Contact person: Liina Rajaveer (liina dot rajaveer at humanrights dot ee)

Germany

Associated Member Organisation: Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte (GFF)

Contact person: Luisa Podsadny (luisa at freiheitsrechte dot org)

Hungary

Member Organisation: Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU)

Contact person: Gabor Medvegy (medvegy at tasz dot hu)

Ireland

Member Organisation: The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL)

Contact person: Sinead Nolan (sinead dot nolan at iccl dot ie)

Italy

Member Organisation: Coalizione Italiana Libertà e Diritti Civili (CILD)

Contact person: Andrea Oleandri (andrea at cild dot eu)

Associated Member Organisation: Associazione Antigone

Contact person: Susanna Marietti (susanna dot marietti at associazioneantigone dot it)

Lithuania

Member Organisation: Human Rights Monitoring Institute (HRMI)

Contact person: Meta Adutaviciute (meta dot adutaviciute at hrmi dot lt) and Mažvydas Karalius (mazvydas dot karalius at hrmi dot lt)

Poland

Member Organisation: Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (HFHR)

Contact person: Małgorzata Szuleka (m dot szuleka at hfhr dot org dot pl), Natalia Wegrzyn (natalia dot wegrzyn at hfhr dot pl)

Romania

Member Organisation: Association for the Defense of Human Rights in Romania-the Helsinki Committee (APADOR-CH)

Contact person: Dollores Benezic (dbenezic at apador dot org)

Spain

Member Organisation: Rights International Spain (RIS)

Contact person: Lydia Vicente Márquez (lvicente at rightsinternationalspain dot org)

Slovenia

Member Organisation: The Peace Institute – Institute for Contemporary Social and Political Studies

Contact person: Brankica Petković (brankica dot petkovic at mirovni-institut dot si)

Sweden

Associated Member Organisation: Civil Rights Defenders

Contact person: Maria Granefelt (maria granefelt at civilrightsdefenders dot org)

Netherlands

Member Organisation: Netherlands Committee of Jurists for Human Rights (NJCM)

Contact person: Floor van Holsteijn (wgeur at hotmail dot com)

United Kingdom

Associated Member Organisation: Liberty – National Council for Civil Liberties

Contact: (pressoffice at libertyhumanrights dot org dot uk)

Translators

Bulgarian - Cveta Stoeva

Croatian - Martina Hrupic

Czech - Radovan Krámár

Estonian - Grete Anton

Dutch - Silke Zwijsen

French - Grégoire Fournier

German - Florian Hülsey

Hungarian - Róza Vajda

Italian - Katarina Tepic

Lithuanian - Petras Borisovas

Polish - Hania Robaszkiewicz

Romanian - Oana Girlescu

Spanish - Ethel Odriozola Monzón

Swedish - Alice E. Olsson