EIN launches new office in Strasbourg
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EIN Secretariat near the European Court of Human Rights and other Council of Europe organs.
Photo: Agnès Ciccarone
EIN launches new office in Strasbourg
On 3 January 2018, the European Implementation Network (EIN) opened its first physical office in Strasbourg. The office serves as the secretariat for Network members and partners across Europe and is located at the premises of René Cassin Foundation - International Institute of Human Rights.
Based just next to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the office will enable the Network to maintain regular operations and activities and strengthen interaction and engagement with Council of Europe entities and Permanent Representations of Council of Europe member states in support of the implementation of human rights judgments of the ECtHR.
The move was made possible thanks to Jean-Paul Costa, President of the René Cassin Foundation; Sébastien Touzé, the Foundation’s Director; and the rest of the Foundation team, who agreed to provide EIN with its own working space separate from the Foundation.
President Costa said:
‘I am delighted to see EIN in Strasbourg and welcome the Network at our premises in the René Cassin Foundation. EIN has a vital role to play in ensuring that NGOs and other civil society organisations can act to advance the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Right. I expect the Network to be at the forefront of these efforts in the years to come and look forward to seeing the benefits of their civil society presence in Strasbourg and the support they provide to Network members and partners across Europe.’
The move to a physical office marks another important development in EIN history. Initially conceived as a project of Judgment Watch, an organisation in Geneva dedicated to advocating the implementation of human rights judgments across the globe, EIN and the Open Society Justice Initiative began convening joint quarterly briefings in 2015 on ECtHR judgments for the Committee of Ministers, the Council of Europe body that supervises the implementation process. In January 2017, EIN was legally registered as an association in Strasbourg following its launch event in December 2016 at the ECtHR. The first EIN Director as well as the Finance and Events Officer were hired during 2017. The inaugural EIN training seminar for Network members and partners, focused on strengthening the role of NGOs in the judgment execution process of the Committee of Ministers, took place in Warsaw in February 2018 at the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights.
Kevin Steeves, EIN Director, and Agnès Ciccarone, EIN Finance and Events Officer, in front of the René Cassin Foundation, home of the EIN Secretariat.
Photo, Kevin Steeves
Photo, Kevin Steeves