Side Event: #PACEwinter2016

Mariia Tsypiashchuk is a Ukrainian human rights defender who has worked for over a decade to advance human rights through human rights education, protection mechanisms during armed conflict, countering discrimination, access to information, and protecting cultural heritage. As a human rights expert, Tsypiashchuk often works with Educational Human Rights House Chernihiv on events including its international human rights school and human rights education festival.

Kateryna Rashevska is a Ukrainian human rights defender working on the issues of violations of the rights of Ukrainian children connected to the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, and the illegal deportation of children to the occupied Ukrainian territories and the territories of the Russian Federation.

Dr Katarina Golubović is a human rights defender from Serbia and President of the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights (YUCOM). She has worked in human rights for over 20 years, having joined YUCOM in 2005. Golubović has dedicated her work to strengthening the rule of law, judicial independence, access to justice, constitutional protection of human rights, public administration reform, and aligning Serbia’s legal framework with international and European human rights standards. She has also actively worked to protect civic space and fundamental freedoms and to support victims of human rights violations through legal advocacy and strategic litigation.