Constitutive meeting: Community of Practice on Human Rights Defenders Protection for Europe
25 March 2026, 2.00 p.m.
Opening remarks by Christina Meinecke, Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to the European Union- OHCHR
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Good afternoon, dear colleagues, dear partners and friends,
It is a real pleasure to welcome you all today on behalf of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Let me begin by sincerely thanking each of you for joining us. We fully appreciate the many demands on your time and resources, and your presence here today reflects a strong and shared commitment to the protection of human rights defenders.
It is also very encouraging to see such a diverse group gathered for this meeting. While the majority of you come from civil society, we are equally pleased to welcome colleagues from the UN system, from EU institutions especially those supporting the implementation of the EU Civil Society Strategy, FRA, the Council of Europe, OSCE-ODIHR, the Open Government Partnership, EFTA, and other partners and donors.
Even more have positively responded to our call for expression of interest and are keen to engage in the next steps.
Bringing together this range of perspectives is essential to the purpose of this initiative.
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