Michael O' Flaherty was elected by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in January 2024. He is the fifth Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, succeeding Dunja Mijatović (2018-2024), Nils Muižnieks (2012-2018), Thomas Hammarberg (2006-2012) and Álvaro Gil-Robles y Gil-Delgado (1999-2006). The Commissioner's mandate lasts for six years and is non-renewable.

An Irish human rights lawyer, O' Flaherty has served as Director of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (2015-2023), as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee (2004-2012), as Chief Commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (2011-2013), and in various posts at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, notably in setting up operations in conflict-affected countries such as Sierra Leone and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Throughout his decades-long commitment to human rights, he has made significant contributions to their promotion and protection, including through the publication of books and articles and through teaching at various universities.

Kateřina Šimáčková is a judge of the European Court of Human Rights, the president of the fifth Section of the Court. Previously she served as a judge of the Czech Constitutional Court and the Czech Supreme Administrative Court. She also worked as an attorney, a member of the Government Legislative Council of the Czech Republic, a member of the Committee on the selection of judges of the Civil Service Tribunal (CJEU) and a substitute member of the European Commission for Democracy through Law of the Council of Europe (Venice Commission). She also teaches at Department of Constitutional Law and Political Science, Faculty of Law, Masaryk University in Brno and is a member of the Scientific Board of the Faculty of Law, Charles University in Prague and of the Academy Assembly of the Czech Academy of Sciences. She has published on human rights and co-authored several academic books, including Mužské právo. Jsou právní pravidla neutrální?, Mužské právo II,  Lidská práva starších lidí, Budoucnost státu ?, Lidská práva: (ne) smysl české politiky ?, Dvacet let Evropské úmluvy v České republice a na Slovensku, Komunistické právo, Évolution des rapports entre les ordres juridiques de l'Union européenne, international et nationaux. and book commentaries on the Law on the Illegality of the Communist Regime, the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms and the Civil Code.  

Hadja Lahbib is the European Commissioner for Equality, as well as for Preparedness and Crisis Management. In her role, she leads the EU’s efforts to promote equality and inclusion, advance women’s rights, strengthen LGBTIQ and anti-racism strategies, and ensure the implementation of key frameworks for Roma inclusion, disability rights, and the prevention of violence against women.

At the same time, she oversees the EU’s preparedness and crisis management portfolio, working to build a stronger, more resilient Europe through initiatives such as the EU Preparedness Union Strategy, civil protection mechanisms, and humanitarian diplomacy.

Bina D’Costa is a Professor of International Relations at the Australian National University and an Australian Research Council Future Fellow. Her work focuses on conflict, displacement, and human rights, bridging academia and humanitarian practice. She has published widely, including Nationbuilding, Gender and War Crimes in South Asia and Children and the Politics of Violence.

Professor D’Costa has worked with UNICEF and the United Nations on major refugee crises, including the Rohingya emergency, and has advised international justice mechanisms and civil society initiatives across Asia. Her contributions have been recognised with awards from the University of Notre Dame and the International Studies Association.

Sara Hamood is the Chief of the Anti-Racial Discrimination Section at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. With 25 years of experience in international human rights, she has worked across several OHCHR branches, including the Middle East and North Africa Section and the Special Procedures Branch.

She led the team behind the 2021 flagship report that launched the High Commissioner’s Agenda towards transformative change for racial justice and equality. Before joining OHCHR, she worked with international NGOs and conducted independent research in the MENA region. She holds an MA in Arabic and Modern Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Oxford and speaks English, Arabic, and French.

Claudia Lam studied law at the College of Europe in Bruges and holds a PhD degree in Public Law from Strasbourg University. She started to work in 2001 in the Council of Europe first in the Secretariat of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), then in the Secretariat of the Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings before joining the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights in 2014.

Evgenia Giakoumopoulou is the Head of the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, and Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC) Unit of the Council of Europe (CoE). She has been working with European Institutions and INGOs for over 10 years, focusing on SOGIESC, as well as on anti-trafficking, migration and asylum, and torture prevention. Convinced of the need to bridge the gap between grassroots movements and international organisations, Evgenia has been actively engaged with the LGBTIQ+ and feminist movements in France, Greece and at the pan-European level. She holds a master’s in criminal law from Université Panthéon Assas (Paris II) and an LL.M. in the International Law of Human Rights and Criminal Justice from the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM).

Kristin Henrard is Professor of International Law at the Free University of Brussels (VUB), which she joined in 2020. Prior to this, she had worked at the University of Groningen (until 2007) and then at the University of Rotterdam, where she became Professor of Human Rights and Minorities in 2010. Kristin obtained her PhD September 1999 at the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium), and holds an LLM from Harvard Law School. She is the author of over 170 publications. A substantial part of these pertain to human rights and minorities, including the prohibition of (racial) discrimination and the various dimensions of the right to equal treatment, educational rights, linguistic rights, socio-economic and political participation, as well as religious fundamental rights. Several of her publications elaborate on the role of international courts and their legitimacy concerns. She continuously expands her range of work towards multi-disciplinary studies, particularly in relation to integration and citizenship.

Angela Longo, currently Head of the Anti-discrimination Cooperation Unit in the Council of Europe, has been working for the organization since 2017, supervising the work of the local office of CoE in Montenegro, and programmes on equality in the Western Balkans and South East Europe. Prior to that, she worked as a political analyst in the European Commission, focusing on monitoring human rights and rule of law issues during the accession process of Croatia and Montenegro, and earlier for a think tank based in Brussels dealing with European integration issues and post conflict. Her specialisation is on humanitarian law and the social and human rights dimension of reconciliation in post-war societies.

Thorsten Afflerbach joined the Council of Europe Secretariat in 1995. Since 1 April 2022, Head of the Inclusion and Anti-discrimination Programmes Division, overseeing activities to protect the rights of LGBTI persons, promote intercultural inclusion of migrants, and combat hate speech and hate crimes. Previous positions as Head of Division in different fields devoted to combating discrimination and fostering equality, such as promoting the rights of persons with
disabilities, social cohesion, regional and minority languages, and inclusion of Roma and Travellers. For several years, Vice-Chair of the Council of Europe Secretariat’s internal Equal Opportunities Board.