Katerina Hadzi-Miceva Evans

(She/Her)

Katerina is a human rights legal expert who for over 23 years has worked with organizations, movements and governments to protect civil society freedoms and create policy and legal conditions in which independent and sustainable civil society can flourish. Katerina has been with ECNL through the phase of transition from a branch office to an independent organization; she become ECNL director in 2012. Under her leadership ECNL broadened its expertise to address new challenges facing civil society as a result of global developments (e.g., counter-terrorism, climate change, use of technology) and has worked with partners across the world to initiate coalitions to address them.

She has helped design tools for civil society law monitoring, researched extensively to share good practices and guide reforms, has spoken at different forums to raise awareness about civic space issues e.g., at TEDx event, launch of Community of Democracies’ Democracy and Security Dialogue initiative with former U.S. Secretary of State M. Albright. Her passion for civil society engagement was shaped during her studies at the Law Faculty in Macedonia when she co-founded an association to provide support to refugees; there she witnessed first-hand the importance of a supportive legal framework for people to join together and to improve lives. During her Master of Law Studies at the CEU, she co-founded the Human Rights Initiative to inspire social engagement and human rights activism amongst students.

Katerina is Co-Chair of the OSCE/OIDHR Panel on Freedom of Assembly and of Association and was member of different bodies including the Council of Europe Expert Council on NGO Law and the Fundamental Rights Platform of the EU Agency for Fundamental rights. She also volunteers her time in the board of several organizations, including the CURE – Campaign to Uphold Rights in Europe and Association Konekt Macedonia.