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.

We are launching this Community of Practice at a time when the work of human rights defenders is both indispensable but, in many contexts, also increasingly challenging.

Across Europe, defenders – be it from or from outside Europe – continue to face a range of pressures, including harassment, criminalisation, surveillance, threats and reprisals. Civic space is under strain in various ways across the region.

And yet, the role of human rights defenders remains fundamental. YOU are key actors in advancing human rights, supporting communities, and strengthening accountability.

Supporting civic space and protecting defenders is therefore a core priority for OHCHR, including through our Representation Office to the EU here in Brussels. We work closely with EU institutions, other regional partners, Member States, and civil society to promote an environment in which defenders can operate freely, safely, and effectively.

At the same time, we are all aware that the current protection landscape—while rich in initiatives—can be fragmented and often lacks sustainability. Many defenders still face difficulties in accessing timely, adequate, and sustained support across the region.

It is precisely in this context and for these reasons that we decided to launch this initiative.

The objective is to create a space that brings together a broad range of actors to strengthen exchange, encourage collaboration and promote multi-stakeholder engagement to achieve a more comprehensive, coherent, sustainable and effective approach to the protection of human rights defenders at both national and regional level across Europe.

At its core, this initiative is about building trust and working together towards shared priorities and solutions to address existing and emerging gas and challenges.

And I would like to warmly thank the organizations which volunteered to co-facilitate with us this Community of Practice to achieve these objectives: the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights; the European Civic Forum; the Civil Liberties Union for Europe; the European Centre for Not-for-profit Law – ECNL; ProtectDefenders.eu; and Front Line Defenders.

Your engagement and leadership has been, and will be, essential in guiding this process and in ensuring that this becomes a space that is inclusive, constructive, and responsive to the needs of its members, and of defenders.

Because this Community of Practice is intended to be participatory and interactive by design. It is not a top-down initiative, but rather a space that is meant to be shaped collectively by all of you.

This meeting is an opportunity to begin defining, together, the kind of community we want to build and to identify a number of shared priorities moving forward. These may include, for example:

• Strengthening coordination and information-sharing among protection actors to improve protection interventions;
• Working together to better understand and address emerging challenges, such as transnational repression or evolving digital threats;
• Enhancing collaborations to strengthen the protection ecosystem in the region and ensure that defenders have access to effective protection mechanisms and can benefit from holistic protection.

This Community of Practice fits well with our broader efforts here in Brussels to strengthen meaningful participation and engagement with civil society in all the policy areas we work on. We regularly create spaces for dialogue, exchange, and joint reflection to reinforce the link between regulatory efforts, policy making, donors’ agendas and the realities on the ground.

I wish you all fruitful deliberations over this next day.