Register now and join the discussions on both days!
At this meeting, we will be looking at the fundamental rights goals and priorities of the European Union under the European Commission’s new mandate. Together with civil society leaders, the European Commission, and other European and international partners, we will identify ways how we can work together more strategically and effectively to deliver on these goals together.
This Annual General Meeting aims to:
inform the organisations of ongoing and upcoming activities of the Agency;
reflect on how to further enhance the Agency’s cooperation with these organisations;
help connect the organisations with one another, the Agency and other institutional partners;
consult the Platform on the Agency’s Fundamental Rights Report 2025.
This Annual General Meeting is open only to organisations that have registered in the Platform, as well as to the invited partners. Civil society organisations operating in EU Member States and in countries that participate in the work of the Agency as observers (Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia) are encouraged to register in the Platform prior to the meeting. More information about the Platform and instructions on how to register are available here. For data protection details, please read the Agency’s Privacy Notice on online meetings held using Webex
Day 1 – Tuesday, 12 November 2024
09:30 – Join us for a Virtual Welcome Coffee hosted by Ene Patterson, Project Manager Fundamental Rights Platform at FRA
10:00-10:05 – Opening by Andreas Accardo, Head of Institutional Cooperation and Networks Unit at FRA
10:05-10:15 – What’s ahead for the Agency in the years to come? Sirpa Rautio, Director of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights
10:15-10:30 – Keynote by Ana Gallego, Director-General for Justice and Consumers at the European Commission. She will speak about the fundamental rights achievements under the outgoing mandate, share the goals for the new mandate, and discuss civil society’s role in shaping the Commission’s Rule of Law Report. Ms Gallego will also take questions from the audience.
10:30-11:45 – Interactive discussion: How can civil society and institutions make a difference in upholding fundamental rights in the EU by working together?
In this session, we will discuss how civil society organisations and institutional partners can work together more strategically and successfully. The audience will be tasked to focus in particular on:
What were the challenges and how were they overcome?
What factors enabled success?
What were significant moments of change that impacted progress?
Who played an important role in achieving the change?
In small groups, the participants will capture lessons learned about working effectively with institutional partners.
The following speakers will share their experiences:
Francesca Carlsson, Policy Manager for Environmental Law, European Environmental Bureau. She will share her experience setting up the Rapid Response Mechanism to protect environmental defenders.
Eve Geddie, Director of the European Institutions Office, Amnesty International. She will talk about their cooperation with policy makers in helping human rights defenders obtain access to visas.
Prof. Maciej Kisilowski, lawyer and democratic strategist at Central European University, co-founder of the Social Contract Incubator in Poland. He will speak about the Social Contact Incubator for constitutional change that he runs there.
Cristian Pîrvulescu, Member of the European Economic and Social Committee - Rapporteur on Civil Society support. He will highlight the motivations, challenges, and successes that surrounded the establishment of the EESC Fundamental Rights and Rule of Law Group, of which he is the former President.
11:45-12:00 – Conclusions from Day 1 by Andreas Accardo, Head of Unit Institutional Cooperation and Networks at FRA
Day 2 – Wednesday, 13 November 2024
10:00-10:05 – Opening of Day 2: Introduction of the agenda points and speakers, Ene Patterson and Waltraud Heller, Institutional Cooperation and Networks Unit at FRA
10:05-10:35 – From mailing list to community: discussion on more effective cooperation through the Fundamental Rights Platform
10:35-10:45 – FRA’s Fundamental Rights Report 2025 – Nicole Romain, Head of Communications and Events Unit at FRA
10:45-11:50 – Thematic exchange with FRA experts on the issues to be covered in the Fundamental Rights Report 2025:
Corporate sustainability due diligence: human rights challenges
Effectively protecting women victims of violence
Respect for fundamental rights in the electoral context
11:50-12:00 – Conclusions from Day 2, takeaways from this Annual General Meeting and next steps by Henri Nickels, Head of Sector Policy Analysis and Stakeholder Cooperation at FRA
12:00 End of the meeting
The Fundamental Rights Platform is the main cooperation channel between the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and civil society organisations. The Platform was established under Art. 10 of Agency’s Founding Regulation (Council Regulation (EC) No 168/2007 of 15 February 2007, amended on 5 April 2022).
Currently, almost 1,000 organisations – active on local, regional, national level – from the EU Member States and candidate countries participate in the Platform. Additionally, international federations, umbrella organisations as well as representatives of the academia participate in this Platform. The list of organisations registered in the Platform as of September 2024 can be consulted here. These organisations are regularly called upon to share their insights to inform FRA’s activities. In addition to regular exchanges (through webinars, roundtables, consultations, a news digest), the organisations that participate in the Platform gather for an Annual General Meeting.
