Speakers
Aladin Paučinac, human rights activist from Novi Pazar. Due to his civic activism, he was prosecuted by the private lawsuits of public officials, for the critiques of gross mismanagement of the Hospital in Novi Pazar during the Covid-19 crisis and participation in the protest, where citizens of Novi Pazar demanded that authorities reveal the true full number of coronavirus cases and fatalities in the Sandzak region. YUCOM started his legal representation before the courts in more than 10 legal civil, criminal, and misdemeanor proceedings.
Arben Gudachi is data protection officer in MYLA since 2016 and has an experience in the field of data protection since 2009 when he was part of the Directorate of Personal Data Protection where he stayed until 2014. As a part of a team, once the new law of personal data protection was implemented in North Macedonia, he conducted an analysis to learn the impact that the new law will have upon the work of NGO sector. He was also engaged on implementation of the new law in several NGO`s in our country, companies, public sector and so on.
Bardhyl Jashari is the Executive director of Metamorphosis Foundation and a member of the Working group for creation of a National AI strategy in North Macedonia. Bardhyl holds a master degree at Paris 12 University-Faculty of Public Administration (France) and an Information System Designer Degree from University of Zagreb (Croatia). His professional interests are mainly in the sphere of new technologies, media, civic activism, e-government and participation.
Caterina is EU Policy Analyst at Access Now. She works on issues related to biometric surveillance, artificial intelligence, privacy, and her main focus is around the intersection between surveillance technology and migration, and how it affects the rights of people on the move. Previously, Caterina advised in some strategic litigation cases challenging EU migration policies in the Central Mediterranean and in Libya. She worked and volunteered for several NGOs that supports migrants’ rights, as the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM), in Belgium, and Mobile Info Team for Refugees, in Greece. Caterina holds an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree in Cooperation Studies in the Mediterranean region, from the Universitat Autonoma of Barcellona, University of Ca Foscari of Venice and Univerité Paul Valéry III of Montpellier.
Damjan Mileusnic is a graduated lawyer. After finishing his bachelor studies in international law at Faculty of Law in Belgrade, he started his NGO career by working for Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights – YUCOM and NGO Praxis where he primarely worked on providing free legal aid to citizens as well as information and legal counselling to members of marginalized groups.
For the last three and a half years, he has been working at Partners Serbia, as a researcher and lawyer, on various different projects in which he has written reports, case studies and legal analyses, worked on publications, booklets and manuals for citizens, conducted research and analyzed data, written blog posts and newspaper articles, provided and coordinated legal support to local organizations and activists throughout Serbia, organized debates, local councils and focus groups, participated in drafting project proposals and in other activities within the organization, primarily in the areas of transparency, rule of law, combating corruption, good governance and raising the efficiency of work of public institutions.
Nine months ago, he also became Project Coordinator for two Projects: Initiative for the Protection of Online Privacy of Marginalized groups (Donor: ABA ROLI) and Constituencies for Judicial Reform in Serbia. (Donor: USAID)
He is also the author/co-author of various blogs and publications, most important being : Case study „Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation in Serbia“, Case study „The Influence of the Law on Free Legal Aid on CSOs“, Know Your Rights Manual, Booklet „My Rights in Cases of Identification, Search and Detention“, Guide for Processing Personal Data during the COVID-19 Pandemic, Analysis of the Application of Transparency Standards in Serbian Courts etc, Report on the Privacy Needs of Vulnerable Social Groups, Guide to Drafting and Amending Sectoral Regulations Governing the Processing and Protection of Personal Data, Case study Communication between Citizens and the Serbian Parliament etc.
During his time at Partners Serbia, he also attended various trainings, courses and workshops, mostly on transparency, free access to information of public importance and personal data protection. In 2021, he was also one of the lecturers at the Partners Serbia’s Autumn School for students on the Free Access to Information of Public Importance.
Emilija Ginoska is a Junior Associate for Counseling and Public Relations in the Department for International Cooperation and Public Relations at the Personal Data Protection Agency of North Macedonia. She has been working there for over three years, organizing and participating in projects, workshops and trainings that include elementary and high school students and teachers, journalists etc. She is also the appointed Youth officer at the Agency and holds positions as the Open data officer and the Offical for mediation with information.
Jovana Spremo works as Advisor specializing in EU integration related policies at the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights YUCOM. She holds a BA in International Relations from the Faculty of Political Science of the University of Belgrade, MA in the interdisciplinary programme of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law and LLM in European Integration at the Law Faculty of the University of Belgrade. She is the coordinator of the Working Group for Chapter 23 of the National Convention on European Union. Her expertise is in the domain of rule of law, with a special focus on the EU negotiation process, mainly covering topics related to judiciary and war crimes. She also covers topics of protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as transitional justice and reconciliation. She is engaged in monitoring the Brussels Agreement implementation and the process of normalization of the relations between Serbia and Kosovo, with a focus on judiciary integration.
Marijana Jancheska is an Openness and Engagement Specialist at Metamorphosis Foundation. She holds a Master’s degree in Cultural Studies and has completed several specialist studies in the field of communications management. Her career in the civil society sector includes many years of experience as a grant coordinator, project coordinator, and monitoring and evaluation specialist.
Marina Bzovîi is the Executive Director of the Moldovan Association of ICT Companies, the action leading association and the voice of the Moldovan ICT industry. Besides managing the day to day activities of the association, Marina has hands-on and mindful of the interests of members and the ICT business community as a whole. Marina has extensive experience in the continuous dialogue with various stakeholders, including public authorities, strategising on ICT policies, while critically analyzing political and legislative documents, and ensuring outreach of policies intended to develop the ICT sector.
Marina earned her master degree in Informational law and is currently pursuing a Master Degree in IT Business. She continued her studies in Networking and Cybersecurity Program and Project Management.
Passionate about art, digitalisation, E-commerce, cybersecurity, data protection, AI and other futuristic technologies.
Nina Catîrev has been working within the Electronic Government Agency since September 2020 as head of the Monitoring and Evaluation Service. She has been working for 8 years in the public sector, collaborating with many public administration institutions including the Secretariat of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, the European Parliament, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development, and development partners such as the EU Delegation, UNDP, World Bank, UN WOMEN, EBRD, BEI. Since 2020, she has been involved in the planning and implementation process of modern technological developments in public administration management, with a special focus on the area of e-government and the modernization of public services.
Rade is expert in the field of control of budget funds, auditing, fight against corruption and media. As part of the IJAS legal team since 2020, dealing specifically with various forms of pressure and attacks on journalists, such as SLAPP lawsuits or verbal threats and physical attacks. The first civil supervisor in public procurement in Serbia, with legal support to bidders in the suppression of hundreds of illegal public procurement procedures. Today, as a member of the Serbian Standing Working Group for the Safety of Journalists with public prosecutors and police actively provides help and support to attacked journalists and media workers. Author of several analyses and works in the field of anti-corruption, procurement and media.
Uros joined Partners for Democratic Change Serbia in 2011. Uros is responsible for the work of Partners Serbia in the fields of good governance, privacy and civil society. Uros developed and implemented many researches in these fields and delivered a series of trainings to public, corporate and civil society entities. He also works as facilitator and consultant, providing support to local civil society organizations to anticipate, prepare for and respond to the risks and threats posed by a changing civic space. Uros also provided support to several public institutions to recognise and further improve internal procedures and operations vulnerable to corruption. Uros graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade.
Mr. Vitalie Tarlev is the Digitalization Adviser in the Economic Council to the Prime minister of Moldova (with support of EBRD).
Previously he served as a State Secretary for the Information Technology and Communications at the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure of the Republic of Moldova (2017-2020); Deputy Minister of Information Technology and Communications (2013–2017) and Director for the European Integration and International Cooperation within the Ministry of IT&C (2005-2013).
Mr. Tarlev has been involved in numerous high profiled ICT national and international initiatives, his duties and responsibilities being focused on Information Society policy and legal framework development, as well as on the implementation of the large scale projects, like: eMoldova2010 Strategy; Digital Moldova 2020 Strategy; IT Industry Competitiveness Roadmap 2015-2017; IT Industry and Digital Innovation ecosystem Strategy 2018-2023; Law on IT parks and creation of the Moldova IT Park; IT Visa Law; creation of the ICT Excellence Center TEKWILL and promotion of the Tekwill National Network; Mandatory Digital Education in Primary School Project; creation of the National 112 Service for emergency communications; Digital signature and Electronic Document Law, Cyber Security National Program 2015-2020, National cybersecurity standard – Minimal Cybersecurity Requirements; Implementation of the Digital Terrestrial TV broadcasting; National program for the Efficient Radio Frequencies Management 2021-2025; development and implementation of the Digital Economy and eCommerce Roadmap, Digital Legislative Packages, etc.
Spoken languages: Romanian, English and Russian.
Aleksandra Dojchinovska is a graduated pedagogue from the Institute of Pedagogy at the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje.
She was been working for 5 years as a pedagogue in the high school Vasil Antevski – Dren. She has trainings and experience in working with students on recognizing and preventing violence amongst children.
In period 1999-2017 – law enforcement authorities (ICT and information security sector). From 2008, Andrei Rusnac is a national Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) expert, from 2011 – a national information security expert. In period 2012-2017, he was a national Cybercrime Convention Committee (T-CY) expert at the Council of Europe.
During the entire period of professional activity, Andrei performed several large-scale information security audits of the activities of the largest state organizations, technical and legal expertise of more than 30 legislative initiatives. He is an author of the National Information Security Concept, of laws on Critical infrastructure and on licensing entrepreneurial activities in technical and cryptographic information protection. He stood at the origins of creation of the national PKI and an author of the entire current regulatory framework in the field of electronic signature.
Biljana Volcheska is Senior Legal Associate at PwC Papazoski and Mishev Law Firm working as a legal expert for personal data protection (national Law on Personal Data Protection and the GDPR) with a professional experience in the area for 15 years. Before joining Papazoski and Mishev Law Firm, she worked at the Agency for Personal Data Protection in North Macedonia.
Catherine Garcia-van Hoogstraten, in her capacity of Director Digital Safety, European Government Affairs Microsoft, drives and build consensus on European regulatory and policy issues at the intersection of Digital Safety, Responsible Tech, Content Regulation, Human Rights. Career-long track record and solid understanding of EU tech policy and legal challenges across a range of critical policy and regulatory files. She is Juris Doctor in Law and Political Science, has PhD studies in EU Consumer and Product Safety Law and has pursued specialization in International Human Rights, Privacy, Information Security and Philosophy of Technology Design. Follow her work on LinkedIn and CatherineGvh
Dimitar Gjeorgjievski is an independent international expert on protection of personal data. In his career has worked as a attorney at law, then he was the director of the State Administrative Inspectorate and the position of director of the Directorate for the protection of personal data was carried out in the period 2010 – 2016. Dimitar has a strong work background with the private sector with large domestic and foreign investors due to his huge experience in law in general, but especially in the field of personal data protection. Hi is the founder and president of the first Association for the Promotion of the Right to protection of personal data – “Privacy”. Dimitar is currently working as an data protection expert and external data protection officer with many clients, such as banks, insurance companies, financial and pension companies, ICT companies, etc.
Dušan Stojičević was for many years editor-in-chief of “Svet kompjutera” (World of Computers) magazine, a member and Chair of the RNIDS BoG, Chair of the Cyrillic Generation Panel at ICANN, a member of the SEEDIG Executive Committee and a member of the RIPE SEE Programme Committee. He has also served as Vice-Chair of the Universal Acceptance Steering Group (UASG) and is now Vice-Chair of the RNIDS BoG and Marketing Director for Eastern Europe at Gransy. The focus of his activities is on IDN domains and the issues surrounding universal acceptance of all languages and scripts on the Internet.
Gjorgji Rajchinoski is a Personal Data Protection Officer in one of the telecommunications companies in Macedonia. He has been working for more than 3 years in the Personal Data Protection as a Personal data protection inspector and Supervisor. During this period, he was also a part of the Agency’s team for conducting trainings in the field of personal data protection. He was also involved in the implementation of the new Law on Personal Data Protection, i.e. the transposition of the GDPR into the Macedonian legislation.
Kristina Todorović is an attorney at law and has been a member of YUCOM’s legal team since 2011, as a provider of free legal aid. She has represented victims of human rights violations before national courts, as well as before the European Court of Human Rights. She won the first ever case in Serbia where hate motivation was taken into account as an aggravating factor. She has been engaged as a UN expert for the protection of persons with mental disabilities. She is a member of the board of directors of the international EIN network, which takes on tracking the implementations of verdicts delivered by the European Court of Human Rights.
Nina Nicovic LL.M. attorney at law, mediator and journalist. Studied at the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Law, judicial major, where she acquired a title of Bachelor with honours law degree in November 2006. During law studies she worked as a journalist from October 1999 to October 2006 in Serbian independent media, as a TV reporter, and in CorD magazine in English, as a journalist. Became an intern/volunteer of the Second Municipal court of Belgrade from December 2006 to December 2009 after which she passed the Bar exam in July 2010, Ministry of Justice of Serbia. She worked as senior judicial associate at the High court of Belgrade from November 2010 to February 2017 in the Investigative department (that incorporated International aid in criminal matters) and Criminal department. During work in court she passed the Lawyer’s exam in February 2016 of the Bar Association of Belgrade, basic and specialized training for mediators organized by Partners for Democratic Change Serbia and became a registered mediator with Ministry of Justice of Serbia from November 2015.
She is a registered attorney at law from February 2017 up to present at a family law office with practice mainly in criminal law in relations to: human rights-defending activists, representing victims; economical financial crimes-abuse of office; crimes against the environment; international aid in criminal matters and contract law-non disclosure agreements.
She finished master studies in English in 2020 at the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Law, with master thesis on ‘’Polluter pays principle: EU and Member States Mechanisms in Enforcing’’.
As a speaker and participator she was in working groups of the High Judicial Council, Ministry of Justice of Serbia, as well on international conferences. As a Rule of Law activist and expert she worked on various projects of USAID, European Union and Serbian NGO sector. She is an author of various newspaper articles, blogs, analysis on issues in the judiciary as well as educational videos, guides/ booklets on helping the citizens understand their rights and obligations in relation to criminal procedures, privacy and public gatherings.
She is a founder and honorary member of the Association of Judicial Associates of Serbia from January 2014 and a member of Independent Journalists Association of Serbia (NUNS) from 1999, International Federation of Journalist (IFJ) from 2000 as well as National Association of Mediators of Serbia from 2015.
Fluent in English, upper intermediate in Spanish and basic level of French language.
Robert Todoroski is an IT consultant and, for the past several years, a digital security advisor and researcher on effective security practices for protecting privacy on the internet. He collaborates as a security consultant and trainer with many NGOs, most of which are independent media outlets in the Western Balkan region.
Tara Petrović is a Lead Researcher in the Public Policy Program at Civic Initiatives, a CSO based in Belgrade, Serbia. Her field of expertise is citizens’ participation, CSOs-government relations, and the three fundamental freedoms necessary for civil society development: freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of association and freedom of expression.
Ana is a human rights lawyer with over 15 years of experience in the fields of rule of law and regulatory reform. Since 2010, she has been working for Partners Serbia, where she has specialized in privacy law and legal aspects of information management. She develops and implements training programs, research and advocacy campaigns aimed at improving privacy-related legislative framework and practices.
Alexandru Donos was a first general director of the State enterprise “Centre of Special Telecommunications” – information and telecommunication systems service provider of the Government of the Republic of Moldova. Under the supervision of Alexandru Donos, was created the telecommunication system of public authorities of the Republic of Moldova (a fiber optic network that unites all state institutions), built a secure Government data center and implemented a digital signature.
From 2005 he is a member of the Commission on Information Security of the Regional Community in the field of Communications. In period 2008-2012, he was a Chairman of the Commission on Information Security of the RCC. From 2013 he is a member of the Public Advisory Council of the Commission on Information Security of the RCC.
Mr. Donos is Co-chairman of the non-governmental organization for the protection of personal data ProDataLex. Senior expert at Dekart, a company specializing in cryptography and information security.
Biljana Nasteska – Kalanoska is a representative of the Association of Journalists of Macedonia. Although by vocation Biljana is a journalist, she has been working in the field of communications for years and strengthened her experience by working in Macedonian and international companies. Currently, she is part of the AJM team as a communications officer and online media associate, where she is working on many of the current projects of the Association.
Bojan Perkov is a Policy Researcher at SHARE Foundation, a non-profit organisation based in Serbia which is dedicated to protecting digital rights and freedoms. His activities in the Foundation include monitoring of the state of digital rights and freedoms in Serbia, conducting research and preparing and editing content. Bojan’s interests and fields of work are freedom of expression, online media and online content liability, as well as all other issues impacting expression on the internet, such as internet policy, hate speech, net neutrality, censorship, etc. Bojan graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade (BA Journalism, MA Communication Studies).
Dragana Žarković-Obradović is the director of Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN Serbia. With extensive media experience and a strong background in project management, Dragana leads the team of award-winning investigative journalists and media development practitioners. Under her leadership, BIRN secured its position as one of the key organizations in the field of analytical and investigative journalism, at the same time enlarging the scope of its programs, cross-cutting the media development and good governance through a combination of journalistic production and policy research. Dragana is also the founding manager of BIRN’s flagship regional journalism fellowship program. She is the author and editor of numerous publications, documentaries, and multimedia projects.
Goce Kocevski works as a program director and a lawyer in MYLA. He is a lawyer driven by the passion to locate the roots of the problems in the society and provide custom made legal solutions to marginalized and vulnerable groups including children. He has been a part of many working groups for amending laws or bylaws that target the lives and wellbeing of these categories. His work on children’s rights and protection includes active participation in the working group for the Law on Justice for Children, providing legal support to parents and children with rare diseases and disabilities and targeting the youth with burning subjects like online protection of rights and freedoms.
Lisa Rousso is an attorney from Chicago, Illinois in the United States where she has worked as a legal aid lawyer and a civil trial lawyer. As a Judicial Affairs Officer in United Nations Peace Keeping Missions in Asia and Africa (Afghanistan, Sudan and South Sudan), she worked to stabilize and coordinate the justice sector; build the capacity of judges, prosecutors, defence lawyers, police and prison officials; and support access to justice initiatives. Lisa worked as a human rights advisor for the Organization for the Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) mission in Kosovo focusing on advising and training the police and detention facility staff as well as working with a consortium of national human rights organizations on educating the public on their rights. In the OSCE mission in Ukraine, she worked as a Monitor focusing on international human rights and humanitarian law relating to the armed conflict, human rights in the criminal justice system, and gender issues. She also has worked as a Legal Specialist on several American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative projects (Armenia, Ukraine and the Balkans), providing organizational management support and training for national legal aid programs, continuing legal education for lawyers, law student legal aid clinics, and know your rights and access to justice projects. Lisa has a Juris Doctor (American graduate law degree) from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri and a post-graduate certificate in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law from Nottingham University in the UK.
Maja Atanasova is a lawyer passionate about human rights and promoting human rights values to all members of the society. Her work with high school students involves projects and activities designed to motivate students understand, recognize and act against violation of human rights and dignity in their environment, with an accent to bullying and gender-based violence, both online and offline. Maja has been a part of MYLA since 2017.
Marijana Sofilj-Acimovic is a graduated engineer. Also, she has a master’s degree in electrical engineering. After finishing her bachelor studies on The School of Electrical Engineering in Belgrade, she started her career as an engineer. At the beginning, she worked at the university as a professional associate, and then in the economy, as a project engineer, head of the project office, chief engineer in the maintenance plant at the aircraft factory.
After a decade of working in the economy, she started working in state bodies. First in the Labor Inspectorate as a labor inspector in the field of safety and health at work, and for the last twelve years she has been working at Commissioner for information of public importance and personal data protection as Senior Advisor and Head of Department for supervision over data protection in local self-government units, in public enterprises, institutions and other public services, organizations, and other legal or natural persons exercising public power.
During this period, she participated in the implementation of some of the most important supervision procedures in the field of Personal Data Protection in the Republic of Serbia, among which is the supervision of the smart video surveillance of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and one of the last ones is the supervision of video surveillance at the protests held in December 2021.
She participated in many projects and trainings aimed improving knowledge and skills in the field of inspection supervision.
Milan Aleksić, political scientist for international relations and MA in Eastern European studies. Graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade (2006), and attended master’s studies at the University of Bologna and the University of Saint Petersburg (2008-2010). From 2011 until today, engaged in various positions in several civil society organizations (Center for Applied European Studies; NGO Atina). In the period 2015-2018 he edited the half-yearly Alarm reports of the “PrEUgovor” coalition on activities related to Chapter 23 (judiciary and fundamental rights) and Chapter 24 (freedom, justice, security) of the negotiation process between Serbia and the European Union. Led conferences, round tables and trainings in the field of combating human trafficking, abuse in the digital space, etc. He is the author and editor of several publications and analytical texts, such as: Open issues between Serbia and its neighbors (2014), “Localization” of the Europe 2020 strategy in Serbia (2015), Child marriage in Serbia (2015), Violence against refugee women and migrant women in Serbia (2017), Prerequisites for integration into the local community (2018), In front of the screen – research on gender-based violence in the digital space (2022), etc. Participated in numerous gatherings dedicated to the EU and European integration, good-neighbor policy, migration and refugee crisis, fight against human trafficking. He occasionally writes for the weekly “Vreme”.
Olga Kyryliuk has a PhD in International Law and is currently a Technical Program Manager at the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative in charge of the regional Internet freedom advocacy program in Europe and Eurasia. She is also a Chair of SEEDIG – South Eastern European Dialogue on Internet Governance covering 20 countries from South Eastern Europe and the neighboring area (SEE+).
Since 2013, she has been actively involved in regional and international Internet governance and human rights initiatives: founding member of the Internet Freedom Network for Eastern, Central Europe, and Eurasia; Europe Representative at Executive Committee of Non-Commercial Users Constituency (NCUC) at Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN); Editor-in-Chief of the SEEsummary, a one-of-a-kind initiative in South-Eastern Europe providing a monthly overview of the most important digital news in the region.
Her sphere of interest lies at the intersection of law and technology and includes, inter alia, digital rights, Internet governance, data protection, artificial intelligence, digital sovereignty, and content regulation.
In the past, Ms. Kyryliuk was a Co-founder and CEO of The Influencer Platform NGO, a Co-founder and Managing Partner of Digital Defenders Partners NGO, Coordinator of COVID-19 Tracking Apps in SEE+ Research Project, member of the ICANN NextGen Program Selection Committee, organizing team member of the Ukrainian national IGF. She also dedicated four years to work in leading humanitarian organizations, including International Committee of the Red Cross and Danish Refugee Council, dealing with the provision of legal support to internally displaced persons.
Sasho Bogdanovski holds a Bachelor’s degree in radio, television and film production from the Faculty of Drama Arts in Skopje. He has specialized in European management of cultural and arts activities following a completed ECUMest programme with residences in several European cities, and holds a Master’s degree in Communications and New Media, with his Master’s thesis on the “Regulation of the Search Engines”. He was a PIU Director of the EU Phare programme for the development of cultural activities, to later upgrade his initial professional interest with his engagement at the National Independent Broadcasting Regulatory Authority, since its founding. Initially, he was engaged in the administration of the production of “Programmes of Public Interest”, then in the international cooperation section, while, currently, he heads the Human Rights and Media Literacy Unit within the Programme Affairs Department of the AAAVMS. He has been lecturing Media Production and Media Entrepreneurship at the Institute of Communication Studies in Skopje.
Tatsiana Ziniakova is a legal analyst and human rights defender with Human Constanta – a Belarusian human rights organization, now liquidated by the decision of Belarusian authorities. Tatsiana holds LL.B. and LL.M. degrees in public international law and human rights law – from Belarusian State University and Wake Forest University, respectively. She has been recognized for her academic work and is the David D. Caron Prize winner. As a Fulbright scholar and grantee of the Edmund S. Muskie Professional Fellowship Program, she was a research fellow with the World Justice Project.
In her current role at Human Constanta, Tatsiana leads the analytical and advocacy lines of the organization’s work. She has produced analytical reports on digital authoritarianism and digital resistance, the rise of civic tech in Belarus, the gender dimensions of political repressions in Belarus, political persecution of lawyers and human rights defenders in Belarus, sanctions on the Belarusian regime, and anti-extremism laws and their application in Belarus.
Alexei Marciuc is Chairman and Co-founder of the Association “Comunitatea Internet” – a non-governmental organization that supports and promotes the development of the open, secure, trustworthy, and unified global Internet. He is an initiator and coordinator for the Moldova Internet Governance Forum, which is a national initiative of the United Nations IGF and is an international multi-stakeholder platform for dialogue on Internet governance issues.
He is a lawyer and researcher with strong background in issues lying at the intersection of law, media and technology. Over the past years, he has been involved in various regional and international projects and programs, including ABA ROLI’s Europe and Eurasia Regional Internet Advocacy Support Program, as a projects manager to promote transparency in the legislative process and to facilitate the formation of a favorable legal regulatory framework for the information space. He is a founding member of the Internet Freedom Network for Eastern, Central Europe and Eurasia.
Alexei is a consultant for the World Bank’s Digital CASA Regional Program, aimed at increasing access to more affordable internet, digital development, creating a transparent digital public administration system and improving legislation in this area. Besides, he is an author and co-author of a number of analytical studies on different areas of legal regulation.
Angelica Petrov is a policy advisor in digital and cybersecurity in the office of MEP Alin Mituța in the European Parliament.
She is a passionate professional in the field of digital governance and security of emerging technologies. Over the past one and a half years in the European Parliament she has worked on European policies regulating the digital field, in particular on the European Digital Identity Framework Regulation (revision of eIDAS), Data Act, Path to the Digital Decade, the EU Cybersecurity Strategy and the Directive on security of network and information systems (NIS2). Previously, she has worked as an advisor to the prosecutor in the cybercrime department of the Prosecutor General Office of the Republic of Moldova, being involved in the prosecution and investigation of cybercrimes and the development of the national regulatory framework in the areas of cyber resilience, security, and crime.
(OPTIONAL) Academically, she holds a law degree from the Moldova State University and an Erasmus Mundus Master in Security, Intelligence and Strategic Studies with a specialisation in security and technology from the University of Glasgow (United Kingdom), Dublin City University (Ireland) and Charles University (Czech Republic).
Bogdan Manolea is the Executive Director of digital civil rights Association for Technology and Internet – ApTI Romania. Mr. Manolea has a legal background and a vast experience of over 20 years in the Law and IT&C and is interested in digital civil rights (Freedom of expression online, privacy and open copyright). Author of presentations and articles on subject related to IT&C Law in national and international conferences.
Galina Climov, executive director of the Alliance of Organizations for Persons with Disabilities from Republic of Moldova, which currently includes 55 civil society organizations. AOPD is a representative national network of organizations of persons with disabilities, associations of parents of children with disabilities, service providers and developers of inclusion policies. The strategic areas of AOPD is advocacy for ensuring conditions of accessibility, educational inclusion, development of services and deinstitutionalization, early intervention and employment of people with disabilities.
The crisis and emergency situations instituted in the Republic of Moldova contributed to increased attention to ensure the conditions of accessibility and security of the digital space , including at the legislative level, for people with disabilities, which is an important source in the current and continuous information of society. Thus AOPD initiated a series of actions and interventions to analyze the problems faced by disabled people from Moldova in the field and subsequently contribute to overcoming these barriers.
Dragana Urumovska is a sociologist, youth worker and human rights activist, working towards improving the overall inclusion climate in the schools in North Macedonia. She has extensive experience in collaborating with students from different age groups (children and youths) as well as working with institutions in creating and implementing Child Safeguarding Protocols in schools. Dragana has been working on drafting a protocol for reporting online bullying with high school students from Nova, and is currently working as Education Officer with the Pestalozzi Children’s Foundation.
Filip Stojanovski is a Partnership and Resource Development Director of Metamorphosis Foundation. He is a contributor on information society topics to the traditional and new media in North Macedonia. Filip has been active in the Macedonian civil society through projects in the area of e-publishing and consumer protection and through professional involvement as an IT expert since 1995.
Martin Vasilkovski is a senior data scientist with years of both academic and industrial experience in full machine learning models pipelining, from architecture to production. His fields of experience include work in medical engineering, banking, telco and industrial applications, with expert knowledge in computer vision, natural language processing, and signal processing.
Igor Kuzevski Is Data Protection Officer, and currently he deals with data privacy issues in banking sector. During 2019- 2021, he was a Deputy Director of the Personal Data Protection Agency. Igor has been working on personal data protection ever since 2011, when he was appointed as a Senior Personal Data protection inspector. During 2017-2019, Igor was appointed a Secretary General in Directorate for personal data protection. Since 2011, he has organized and held workshops and trainings on the topic of personal data protection.
Manuela Stanoevska Stoilkovska is data protection expert with more than 13 years of experience is the field of data protection. She works in the Personal Data Protection Agency since 2009. She is a Senior Supervisor – Head of Unit and she was directly involved in transposing of GDPR in national law. She has conducted 1000 trainings on various topics in the area of data privacy. She is the author/coauthor of two analyzes (publications) related to privacy and data protection.
Milena Vasic is an attorney at law and has been a member of the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights – YUCOM since 2012, as a provider of free legal aid and as an associate and coordinator on numerous projects. She has represented victims of human rights violations in proceedings in front of national courts and other state entities, as well as in front of the European Court of Human Rights. As an author and co-author, she has participated in creating numerous works published by YUCOM, legal analyses and commentary on laws in the legislative process and has actively followed the implementation of the Action Plan for Chapter 23 – Judiciary and Fundamental Rights.
In addition to this, she is an educator involved in trainings in the domains of protecting women from discrimination and gender-based violence, media reporting on hate speech and hate crimes against vulnerable groups, media reporting on criminal proceedings, patients’ rights and others. In December 2018 she became a member of the Program Board of the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights – YUCOM
Ms. Puiu is an Attorney at Law and serves as Freedom House’s local representative in Moldova. In March 2019 she was elected as a member of the European Committee of Social Rights. Since 2012, she has served as an instructor at the Chisinau School of Advanced Journalism, where she teaches a course on Mass-media law. Tatiana has extensive experience with journalism and the media in Moldova and serves as a media expert, presenting at round tables, trainings and press clubs organized by NGOs and the international community.
Valjdete Adili Selimi is a high school psychologist and a licensed Geshtalt psychotherapist. She works devotedly with high school students on strengthening their capacities through various activities, programs and creative workshops. Her work as a psychotherapist working with young people is directed towards victims of aggression and domestic violence. She is also a part of the national Red Cross program for young people – Red Cross in Action – Promotion of Human Values, where she trains and monitors the activities of the young people in investing their spare time into helping others.