In 2016, Mr. Mart Laanemäe was appointed Ambassador of the Republic of Estonia to the Federal Republic of Germany. Since 2012 he held the position of Undersecretary for Europe and Transatlantic Co-operation, and was also responsible for political affairs in 2013.

He previously was Undersecretary for External Economic Affairs (trade, OECD, development co-operation), also responsible for political affairs, and Ambassador to Germany.

In 2008 Laanemäe was the first head of the Estonian delegation negotiating OECD accession.

He entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Undersecretary at for policy, press and information in 1996.

By education he is a scientist and engineer, graduated Dr.rer.nat. in Chemistry, Stuttgart University and hold a M.A.Sc. in Materials Science, University of Toronto.

Marietje Schaake has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament for the Dutch Democratic Party (D66) with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) political group since 2009. She serves on the International Trade committee, the committee on Foreign Affairs, and the subcommittee on Human Rights. She is the founder of the European Parliament Intergroup on the Digital Agenda for Europe. She is Vice-President of the US Delegation and serves on the Iran Delegation and the Delegation for the Arab peninsula. She is a Member of the Global Commission on Internet Governance and a Young Global Leader with the World Economic Forum.

Joseph Cannataci, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy

Prof. Joe Cannataci was appointed UN Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy in July 2015.
He is the Head of the Department of Information Policy & Governance at the Faculty of Media & Knowledge Sciences of the University of Malta. He also holds the Chair of European Information Policy & Technology Law within the Faculty of Law at the University of Groningen where he co-founded the STeP Research Group.

An Adjunct Professor at the Security Research Institute and the School of Computer and Security Science at Edith Cowan University Australia, a considerable deal of Joe’s time is dedicated to collaborative research. He was overall co-ordinator for the SMART and RESPECT projects dealing with surveillance and currently also co-ordinates MAPPING dealing with Internet Governance.

A UK Chartered Information Technology Professional & Fellow of the British Computer Society, he also continues to act as Expert Consultant to a number of international organisations.
He has written books and articles on data protection law, liability for expert systems, legal aspects of medical informatics, copyright in computer software and co-authored various papers and textbook chapters on self-regulation and the Internet, the EU Constitution and data protection, on-line dispute resolution, data retention and police data. His latest book “The Individual & Privacy” is published by Ashgate (March 2015).

In 2002 he was decorated by the Republic of France and elevated to “Officier de l’ordre des palmes académiques”. His pioneering role in the development of technology law and especially privacy law was cited as one of the main reasons for his being made the recipient of such an honour as was his contribution to the development of European information policy. He has held or currently holds research grants from the British Academy, the Council of Europe, COST, UNESCO and the European Commission, totaling in excess of Euro 30 million. He serves on the editorial board of six peer-reviewed journals.
 

Frane Maroevic - Director of the Office of the Representative on Freedom of the Media, previously held the post of Senior Advisor in the Office. He began his career at the OSCE in 2010 as the Deputy Head of Press and Public Information. Before joining the OSCE he was the Director of Communications for the High Representative and EU Special Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as the Spokesperson for the European Commission in Bosnia and Herzegovina and a journalist with the BBC World Service in London

Stephen Lowe is Head of the “Equality & Democracy” Team in the Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s Human Rights and Democracy Department.  His responsibilities include freedom of expression, media freedom, human rights defenders, women’s empowerment, LGBT rights, democracy and business and human rights.  He has previously served as First Secretary at the British Embassy in Rome, as Head of EU & International Forestry Policy and as International Policy Adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister.

Carl Fredrik Wettermark is an advisor for Internet policy issues at the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He co-founded a social media analytics company in 2006, after having worked as a systems developer in the Swedish and European Internet industry in the early 2000s. Between 2007 and 2009 he worked with capacity building projects for UNDP and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency in Rwanda, before joining the Ministry for Enterprise, Energy and Communications in 2009 to work on national and EU information society policy issues. He joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 2012 to focus on global cyber policy issues.

Sanja Kelly is the director for Freedom on the Net, Freedom House’s assessment of global internet freedom. In that capacity, she oversees all research, writing, and administrative operations for the project, crafts organizational policy positions on internet freedom, and facilitates Freedom House’s engagement with governments, the private, sector, and international organizations. She has authored and edited numerous articles, reports, and books examining internet freedom, democratic governance, and women’s rights. She regularly briefs NGOs, the private sector, and government agencies  on internet freedom trends, and is frequently interviewed by domestic and international media. Her commentary has appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Guardian, Al-Jazeera, Fox New, CNN, and other outlets.

Ms. Kelly was appointed by the UN Secretary General in 2012 to serve on the Multistakeholder Advisory Group for the IGF (2012-2014), and also co-chaired the Freedom Online Coalition working group that drafted the Tallinn Agenda in 2014. During her 12-year career, she has also led various international research missions and represented Freedom House at high-level meetings in over 30 countries. In addition, Ms. Kelly has worked extensively on gender issues in the Middle East and North Africa and has produced one the largest studies of women’s rights in the MENA region. A native of Bosnia-Herzegovina, she holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from Columbia University.

Allon Bar (at Stiftung Neue Verantwortung) is policy and engagement manager of the Ranking Digital Rights project. He previously coordinated Ranking Digital Rights’ research. Before joining Ranking Digital Rights, Mr. Bar implemented the ‘Odyssey’ project, focusing on digital security for vulnerable communities, and wrote policy recommendations for among others the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and civil society organizations. In addition to having worked with NGOs in Indonesia, Kenya, the Netherlands and the United States, he has engaged in international policymaking as a fellow in U.S. Congress and as a policy officer at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As a Fulbright scholar, Mr. Bar obtained a master of international affairs degree, with a focus on human rights, at Columbia University. He further holds a BA degree in Language and Culture Studies and an MA degree in History of International Relations from Utrecht University.

Prof. Michael Rotert studied business science at the University of Karlsruhe, specialising in OR / informatics. In addition to the professional experience he gained inter alia as the founder and Executive Director of Xlink, one of the first internet access providers in Germany, as Executive Director and Senior Vice-President of KPNQWest, as Executive Director of various different Internet service providers, he has an extensive academic background. Before he started at Xlink, Michael Rotert worked at the University of Karlsruhe. In 1985, he implemented the first Internet connection at a German university. In June 1999, Michael Rotert was awarded the title of Honorary Professor in the field of informatics by the University of Karlsruhe, where he has taught regularly since 1981. Through his work for various national and international bodies, Prof. Rotert is committed to providing intensive support for the success of the Internet in Germany. Since 2000, he has been Chairman of eco (Verband der deutschen Internetwirtschaft e.V.), President (2003-2007) and Vice President (2008-2009) of EuroISPA (European Internet Services Providers Association), and an industrial speaker of the German delegation of the G8 Cybercrime group. He also works as an expert for the EU, the UN and the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Alex Walden works on free expression and human rights at Google. Her work includes representing Google in the Global Network Initiative (GNI) and participating as a member of the Freedom Online Coalition's working group on transparency. Alex joined Google from The Raben Group, where she was a director focused on civil rights, women's rights, criminal justice reform issues, and nominations. Prior to joining TRG, Alex worked at the Center for American Progress. She has also served as a law clerk for the U.S. House of Representatives in the Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights & Liberties and the U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary. Alex also worked with the U.S. EEOC, U.S. Department of Labor, and Bay Area Legal Aid during law school. Before attending law school, Alex spent almost four years working in the D.C. Office of Legal Momentum (formerly NOW Legal Defense & Education Fund). Alex holds a B.A. in political science from American University and a J.D. from University of San Francisco School of Law.

Philippe Boillat was born on 31 July 1952 in Switzerland. He holds a Master in Law from the University of Lausanne.

He started his legal career in 1978 at the Federal Ministry of Justice in Bern. Between 1997 and October 2005, he was Deputy Director of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Head of International Affairs Department and the Swiss Government Agent to the European Court of Human Rights and UN Committee against torture.

He has been Chairperson of several major intergovernmental Committees:

• the Human Rights Committee for the Protection of National Minorities,
• the Ad Hoc Committee for the Protection of National Minorities,
• the European Committee responsible for drawing-up “Guidelines on Human Rights and the fight against terrorism” and “Guidelines on the protection of victims of terrorist acts”,
• the Group which drew up Protocol No.14 amending the European Convention on Human Rights and the Steering Committee for Human Rights.

In May 2006, he was appointed Director General of Human Rights in the Council of Europe, and since May 2007, Director General of the Directorate General Human Rights and Rule of Law.

Philippe Boillat has published several feature articles in the legal and human rights sectors.