Fifth EUVP Alumni Webinar - “EU as a Global Actor Protecting Human Rights”

Online event

29 September 2022 - 10.00-12.00 Brussels time

The European Union Visitors Programme (EUVP) is pleased to announce its fifth EUVP Alumni webinar! The event will be dedicated to Human Rights and will feature EUVP Alumni guest speakers from Vietnam, Zimbabwe and Belarus as well as representatives from the European Institutions.

Join us to get the most up-to-date insights on policies of the European Union and to hear from international partners.

10.00 – 10.10 - Welcome and opening remarks

10.10 - 10.15 Recorded message by Mr Eamon GILMORE, EU Special Representative for Human Rights, European External Action Service.

10.15 - 10.20 Speech by Ms Magdalena GAWROŃSKA, Political Advisor to EUSR Mr Gilmore, European External Action Service.

10.20 – 10.30 Speech by Ms Armelle DOUAUD, Director for Democracy Support, Directorate General for External Policies of the Union, European Parliament

10.30 – 10.40 Speech by Mr The Huy LOUNG, Director, Institute of Society, Economy and Environment, NGO working for Human Rights and Minorities, Vietnam

10.40 – 10.50 Speech by Mr Kennedy MASIYE, Human Rights Advocate, Founder of All Hands-on Justice (AHOJ), Zimbabwe

10.50 – 11.00  Speech by Ms Eugenia ANDREYUK,  Lawyer and Human Rights Advisor, World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), Belarus (based in Brussels)

11.00 – 11.30 Discussion between the panelists moderated by Ms Sarah SHEIL,  Head of Communication and Outreach Unit, Directorate General for External Policies of the Union European Parliament

11.30 – 12.00 Q&A Session

EUVP Alumni

Mr The Huy LUONG, EUVP Alumnus 2022, is a lawyer by training and has joined the LGBTI movement since 2008, dealing with press, schools, and health centres. Since 2013, Huy has focused on research and policy advocacy at the national, regional, and international levels. His efforts have fostered important policy dialogues with the government during campaigns to amend the Law on Marriage and Family to include same-sex union rights as well as to pass a Civil Code that recognizes transgender individuals. In 2016, Huy was on Forbes Vietnam's "30 Under 30" list. In 2021, Huy ran for the Vietnamese National Assembly, being the first openly gay official candidate in Vietnam.

Mr Kennedy MASIYE, EUVP Alumnus 2017, is a human rights advocate. He is also a masters graduate in International Human Rights Law from the University of Notre Dame in the USA. He has extensively worked in the human rights field as a lawyer in Zimbabwe and is passionate about access to justice and the advancement of legal protections for human rights defenders. His dedication in ensuring the right to dignity and equality in Zimbabwe made him to be one of the leading human rights defenders of his generation winning three human rights awards in 2014 and 2015 respectively. Kennedy has been identified as one of Africa’s emerging young leaders by the United States' flagship program, the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI). He is an inspiration to many young human rights lawyers in Zimbabwe. Currently Kennedy is the founder of an organization called All Hands-on Justice (AHOJ) a human rights organization that seeks to fight for justice for human rights defenders who have faced enforced disappearances in Zimbabwe. Before Kennedy left Zimbabwe, he represented the family of Itai Dzamara, a journalist who was abducted in Zimbabwe on 9 March 9 2015 and has never been found. Besides his human rights work, Kennedy is also employed by a leading law firm in the United States that handles immigration cases.

Ms Eugenia ANDREYUK, EUVP Alumna 2021, is a human rights lawyer with 10 years of practical experience in the field. She holds an LLM from Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights and an MA in Humanitarian Action from RUHR University Bochum and Uppsala University. Eugenia has been working in the human rights field, including with human rights organisations in Belarus and Ukraine. Since 2019 she is working with the region of Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia. Currently, she is Regional Program Coordinator in World Organisation against Torture (OMCT)

EU Interlocutors

Mr Eamon GILMORE is the European Union’s Special Representative for Human Rights and the EU Special Envoy for the Colombian Peace Process. He was Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade from 2011 until July 2014. During this time, Eamon led Ireland’s successful Presidency of the European Union, was President of the EU’s General Affairs Council, Chairperson-in-Office of the OSCE and managed the Northern Ireland Peace Process on behalf of the Irish Government with responsibility for implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, including its core human rights provisions. As a member of the Irish Parliament (Dáil Éireann) from 1989-2016, he was an active advocate for social rights and a champion of the liberal agenda. He played a leading role in the legalization of contraception and abortion in Ireland, and was widely recognized for his part in the successful campaign for same sex marriage equality. Eamon was a trade union leader and a student union leader prior to his election to parliament. He was the Leader of the Irish Labour Party from 2007 until 2014.

In his current role as the EU Special Representative for Human Rights, Eamon acts to enhance the European Union’s effectiveness, presence and visibility in protecting and promoting human rights throughout the world. He regularly meets with governments to discuss the human rights situation in their countries, chairs formal Human Rights Dialogues, speaks for the EU at international human rights fora including at the United Nations and the UN Human Rights Council, and meets regularly with international and local human rights and civil society bodies.

Ms Magdalena GAWROŃSKA is a career diplomat, human rights and democracy support expert with more than 13 years of progressive professional experience in policy development, and project management for public administration and international organisations. She currently serves as the Political Advisor to the EU Special Representative for Human Rights, Mr Eamon Gilmore, focusing on the European neighbourhood, Central Asia and North Africa.

Magdalena joined the Polish Foreign Service in 2009. Prior to assuming her current secondment, she served as Poland’s delegate to the EU Council’s Working Party on Human Rights (2018-2021), Director for External Relations at the Community of Democracies’ Permanent Secretariat (2015-2016) and the Chief-of-Staff to the Secretary General of the Community of Democracies (2012-2015). Graduate of the Warsaw School of Economics in 2009, she is also the alumna of two leadership programmes: The GMF Marshall Memorial Fellowship in 2015 and the US State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Programme in 2014.

Ms Armelle DOUAUD is the Director for Democracy Support in the European Parliament’s External Policies DG. Previously she has been Deputy Head of Cabinet of President Sassoli, Head of the Secretariat for the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) and for the Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE). Ms Douaud joined the European Parliament's General Secretariat in 2002 as a spokesperson in the Directorate General for Communication. She then moved in 2005 to the Directorate General for External Policies where she dealt with development issues and relations with ACP countries. She also worked for the EP Women's Rights committee (2011-2013). A graduate in law from the Montesquieu University in Bordeaux in 1997, Ms Douaud was also a postgraduate scholar (1997-2002), focusing on EU law, while teaching constitutional law. A French native, her languages include English and Spanish.