A human rights lawyer, Brigitte holds diplomas in Law and in Linguistics and Russian Studies from the University of Montréal (Canada). She is a member of the Québec Bar (Canada). She began her legal career in the field of intellectual property and soon moved to international human rights law, an interest she developed during study visits to countries of the former Soviet bloc. Through her work for the Vienna-based International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights – where she became the deputy director and legal counsel – she led several international human rights projects and carried out numerous missions in the field, closely observing human rights developments and working together with local human rights advocates on various key issues in Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. Brigitte possesses extensive experience in international advocacy, having represented human rights groups before UN bodies, the Council of Europe, European Union institutions, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. She has contributed to numerous human rights publications.

Simon has been active in promoting human rights in his native South Caucasus for over a decade, practicing law since 2001. In 2004 -2006, he worked for the Georgian government, coordinating prison reform and representing the government before the European Court of Human Rights. In 2008, he was actively engaged in documenting human rights violations committed during the armed conflict between the Russian Federation and Georgia and in advocating alongside the Norwegian Helsinki Committee to end impunity in the region. In 2014, Simon co-established Truth Hounds – a Ukrainian initiative that has since being engaged in thorough documentation of grave human rights abuses and international crimes committed in Ukraine’s Donbas region and Crimea. This work is being carried out in close collaboration with IPHR. Simon also sits in the board of Tbilisi Shelter City, an initiative working on rehabilitation, professional development, and support to human rights defenders from the former Soviet Union region.

Rachel has a background in managing cross regional projects focusing on human rights and NGO capacity building in the former Soviet Union. She worked as campaigner on Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan for Amnesty International at the International Secretariat and later as Central Asia researcher. She also spent 11 years working for the European Council on Refugees and Exiles and has extensive experience of field research on issues including torture and ill-treatment, refugee rights, freedom of expression and association, children’s and women’s rights) and undertaking advocacy to present these concerns to the international community. She also worked for several years as a consultant for Asylum Rights Consultancy (UK) researching country of origin information in relation to refugees and asylum seekers.

She has a degree in Russian from Bristol University and studied at the University of Voronezh. She speaks Russian, French and English (mother tongue).

Andrea studied in Vienna and St. Petersburg and holds a PhD degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology (with a focus on human rights and gender studies) and a masters’s degree in Russian Language and Literature from Vienna University, and a diploma in Psychological Counselling.

From 2008 until 2019 she worked for Amnesty International, first as a researcher in the Eurasia team of the International Secretariat of Amnesty International, then as an Individuals at Risk Coordinator and Advocacy and Policy Officer in the Austrian Section. Before that she worked for the Austrian Academy of Sciences (with a focus on women’s rights in Armenia) and for the OSCE Office in Yerevan (Democratization Officer).

Andrea has carried out extensive field research in the South Caucasus and Central Asia on topics including women’s rights, domestic violence, torture, persecution of human rights defenders and the death penalty. Other professional involvements have included lectureships at the National University of Maynooth/Ireland and the University of Vienna and counselling work for victims of domestic violence.

Andrea currently also teaches in the human rights master programme of Prof. Manfred Nowak at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna/Austria.

Before joining IPHR, Christelle worked for Axyom as a senior consultant. She has expertise in finance and internal control, as well as coaching and training in financial topics related to NGO financial management.

Christelle holds a Master’s degree in Human and Social Sciences from the Free University of Brussels (ULB).

Nana holds a Bachelor’s degree  in Business Administration and Management and she is currently completing a Master’s degree in Education at Ilia State University. In 2018, she was a visiting student at the University of Tartu (Estonia). She is also a FLEX programme alumna.

Tamar has experience working with both Georgian and international non-governmental organisations in human rights advocacy, women’s rights, legal research, project management, leadership, and youth work. She is committed to the idea of universal human rights and is passionate about promoting principles of gender equality and non-discrimination through activism, international cooperation, and development.

Thoma is currently completing a Master’s in Applied Psychology at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA).  Previously, he worked with the US Embassy in Georgia and also managed programmes at various non-governmental organisations. His areas of research are nationalism, ethnic conflicts, and human rights. He is also active in photojournalism.

For 12 years Svitlana worked in the public health sector, specifically with vulnerable groups in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA). In 2014, she became Field Coordinator for IPHR’s mission in Ukraine, helping to organise the documentation of war crimes. She is one of the founders of the NGO Truth Hounds, a Ukrainian initiative that has since conducted thorough documentation work related to grave human rights abuses and international crimes committed in Ukraine’s Donbas region and Crimea. In 2016, Truth Hounds expanded its work outside of Ukraine, opening an office in Georgia. Svitlana is also a co-founder of the Tbilisi Shelter City programme, a relocation and rehabilitation project for at-risk human rights defenders (HRDs); Svitlana was coordinator of the programme for three years, helping HRDs, activists, and journalists cope with the risks and threats their work poses in EECA.

Svitlana is a security trainer and has a wealth of expertise related to emergency and crisis response initiatives.

Matt holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from the Free University of Brussels (ULB) and a Bachelor’s in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics from the University of Exeter. Prior to joining IPHR, Matt was involved in political activism in the UK and later worked as an English teacher in France.

He speaks English and French and is learning Russian.

Sopio holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Tbilisi State University and a Master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Research and Study on Eastern Europe from the University of Bologna.

Before joining IPHR, Sopio worked with both Georgian and international organisations in the fields of youth, non-formal education, project management, and leadership.  In addition, she has played the role of facilitator in a number of  dialogue projects in the South Caucasus aimed at developing non-violent interactions between conflict stakeholders.

Sopio speaks Georgian, English, and Russian. Her main topic of interest is re-examining the past in former Soviet countries.

Tatiana holds a Master’s degree in Human Rights Law from Strasbourg Faculty of Law, as well as a Master’s in Project Management from Montpellier Faculty of Political Science.

Prior to joining IPHR’s team, Tatiana completed an internship in IPHR’s Tbilisi office as a Project Coordination Assistant. Earlier, she volunteered for various non-profit organisations in the fields of the rights of the child and access to culture. In addition to her work at IPHR, she currently volunteers for a non-profit organisation raising money for water development projects through cultural events around Europe.

Maryna holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (Ukraine), a Master’s degree in International Business, Economics, and Management from the Catholic University of Leuven (KUL – Belgium), and a Master’s degree in European Integration from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). She has also studied EU-Ukraine Relations at Friedrich Schiller University of Jena (Germany).

Prior to joining IPHR’s team in Brussels, Maryna completed an internship with IPHR and volunteered with IPHR’s Ukraine field mission. Previously she worked with the non-profit Ukraine Crisis Media Centre in Kyiv, Ukraine.

She speaks Ukrainian, Russian, English, and German.

Anastasiya holds a Master’s degree in Law and a PhD in International Law from Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University (Ukraine).

Prior to joining IPHR’s team, Anastasiya worked in Kyiv as an analyst with the Ukrainian human rights NGO CrimeaSOS, from 2019 to 2021. From 2017 to 2019, Anastasiya was an Assistant Professor in the International Law Department at Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Anastasiya speaks Ukrainian, Russian, English, and German.

Dr Kanev’s career in human rights began in 1988, when he became an activist in a number of human rights and environmental NGOs. He has also played an active role in training NGOs and other bodies on monitoring human rights. In addition, he has assisted both individuals and human rights NGOs in bringing cases to the European Court of Human Rights and UN bodies and has successfully represented clients before these bodies in a variety of human rights cases.

He has been part of many human rights organisations and other institutions, has published many books and articles on a variety of human rights issues, and was among the founders of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, as well as being a member of the Executive Committee of the International Helsinki Federation on Human Rights. He also sat on the Board of Trustees of the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture, the Board of the Association for the Prevention of Torture, and the Board of Trustees of the Public Interest Law Network. In 2015, he became a member of the Management Board of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency.