iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 03/05/2026

This is the substance: the Campaign to End Repression in Azerbaijan detailed analysis of the EU-Azerbaijan relationship shows how energy commitments have been decoupled from human rights obligations. 🔗 Read it www.endrepression-az.org/report-eu-az...

Illustration of Lady Justice blindfolded, holding three scales. The left scale is imbalanced, weighted heavily toward "Energy" and "Trade." The right scale tips toward "Human Rights" and "Rule of Law," but is visibly outweighed. The EU flag with yellow stars appears at top left, with an arrow pointing toward the figure. Title reads: "The European Union is Trading Away Principles." The image uses teal and yellow tones to symbolise the EU's prioritisation of economic interests over human rights commitments.

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 03/05/2026

The EU's energy transition cannot mean trading Russian authoritarianism for Azerbaijani repression 🛢️⚖️ Without human rights conditionality, energy partnerships simply relocate the moral problem. 📺 www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpRi...

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 13/04/2026

Was für ein Unsinn: Was die Welt über Orbáns historische Niederlage berichtet, spiegelt sich in der Überschrift des @blick.ch überhaupt nicht wider! Im Gegenteil: Die Welt ist sich einig, dass die EU durch den Machtwechsel in Ungarn gestärkt und Trump und Putin geschwächt wurden.

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 11/04/2026

Twenty photographs from the past week selected by @theguardian.com. The planet, seen from afar, is breathtaking. The moment, lived on it, is not. Worth a few minutes of your day 🌍 🔗 www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 30/03/2026

It feels great to be starting Human Rights Compass's 3rd season. A year in, with a great group of colleagues from across the globe, as the global realignment accelerates and the stakes for human rights keep rising. Proud of what we've built & energised for what comes next.

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 26/03/2026

Just read “Mr Men Little Miss: I Am Angry” putting my 4yo to bed. Trump’s last State of the Union scores at fourth grade on the same readability scale. Hargreaves had the excuse: he was writing for 3–4 year-olds 📖

Cover of “Mr Men Little Miss: I Am Angry,” part of the Discover You series by Roger Hargreaves. A blue rectangular Mr Men character with a top hat and a pink square Little Miss character both wear angry expressions, with yellow lightning bolts around them. The subtitle reads: “A book about managing anger.”

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 09/03/2026

A few days in Toronto on the future of civic space 🇨🇦 A meeting with Canadian civil society and lawmakers, and ICNL's board meeting. The work of protecting human rights is built on exactly this kind of sustained, committed coalition-building ⚖️

Ontario Human Rights Code plaque
A blue heritage plaque on a metal post, erected by the Ontario Heritage Trust, marking the Ontario Human Rights Code which came into effect on 15 June 1962. The plaque stands in a courtyard in front of a large stone building, with patches of snow on the ground.

than Phillips Square ice rink
People ice-skating at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto, with the large white TORONTO sign and City Hall's twin curved towers visible in the background under a partly cloudy winter sky.

Caroline Monnet paintings
Two large-format paintings by Canadian artist Caroline Monnet, displayed on a white wall at the law firm McCarthy Tétrault in Toronto.

Group photo at McCarthy Tétrault
Group photo of the members of the Board and leadership of the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL). Thirteen people are posing in a high-rise office, with a panoramic view of the Toronto skyline visible through floor-to-ceiling windows behind them. The St. Regis hotel sign is visible in the background.

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 23/02/2026

Not an answer on how is it that there has never been a women Secretary-General, but a path on how it could happen this year 💜 progresschange.org/notes-from-t...

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 22/02/2026

Skopje strategy days with inspiring civil society people 💪 Three takeaways: security needs rule of law 🛡️; people need proof we help protect their future 👥; and when multilateral spaces go soft, we build new alliances 🗣️ Thanks to @ecnl.bsky.social for bringing us together. Until next time.

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 17/12/2025

Great exchange with @ecnl.bsky.social colleagues on how civil society can hold international organisations accountable and advance human rights. Belarus reminds us that this is a long haul (I remember the Jan 2011 civil society meeting well) 🤍❤️🤍

$Presentation slide titled “Problem statement: Institutional inaction.” The slide lists internal fractures within the EU, Council of Europe, OSCE and United Nations, and notes a lack of political courage from institutional leadership. It includes references to Azerbaijan and Georgia, a quote by Martin Griffiths calling on the UN to recover its courage, and a QR code linking to Human Rights Compass recommendations.$ Slide titled “Fractured Order: Relevance for civil society.” The slide explains how internal institutional challenges affect expectations and strategies for civil society, and highlights a growing role in holding institutions accountable. Images of two reports on Azerbaijan’s human rights situation are displayed on the right.

Slide titled “Fractured Order: Relevance for civil society.” The slide explains how internal institutional challenges affect expectations and strategies for civil society, and highlights a growing role in holding institutions accountable. Images of two reports on Azerbaijan’s human rights situation are displayed on the right.

Slide titled “Attention to Belarus: Long haul.” The slide presents a timeline from 2010 to 2021 showing sustained civil society and UN engagement on Belarus, including Human Rights Council resolutions, the appointment of a UN Special Rapporteur and the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry. The slide includes photos related to civil society work in Vilnius and documentation of UN non-cooperation by Belarus.

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 14/12/2025

La terreur antisémite frappe encore. Le soir de Kanukkah. Choc. Tristesse. Sympathie.

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 10/12/2025

A slightly selfish reflection on #HumanRightsDay 🌍 Three publications: gender backlash ✊ repression in Azerbaijan ⚠️ and the case for an Eastern European woman to lead the UN 🟣 Proud of what we are building with Progress and Change Partnerships 🙂 progress-change-actionlab.org

Screenshot of our webpage section titled “Latest News”. Three publication cards are shown.On the left, the first card has a purple-and-green icon and the title “Gender Backlash”. Text below introduces the Human Rights Compass brief published on 10 December 2025 about practical recommendations to advance global gender equality and respond to backlash.In the centre, the second card shows the cover of “Trading Away Principles” with an Azerbaijan–EU visual. The title reads “Campaign to End Repression in Azerbaijan”, summarising a report published on 9 December 2025 about the EU deprioritising human rights in its relationship with Azerbaijan during a period of severe repression.On the right, the third card shows a purple illustration of the UN Secretariat building with flags and the title “Leadership in a Fractured Order”. Text below summarises the October 2025 Notes from the Faultline, arguing the UN should choose a woman from the Eastern European Group to be the next Secretary-General.

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 12/11/2025

A day without earl grey just isn’t a good day. #OMG #JustSaying

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 05/10/2025

Great to meet the FGIP Board in Prague💙 Our strategy, based on 45 years of experience, addresses today’s challenges: 💪Multifaceted mental health crisis ⚖️Repression targeting civil society 🛑Populism and reduced foreign funding. 🔗 fgip-global.org/wp-content/u...

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 22/09/2025

Honoured to have had the chance to speak at the 8th Leonidas Donskis Conference in Vilnius on Human Rights: from Hope to Despair. For the first time since the Holocaust, humanity will end this decade worse off than it began 📉 A thread below 🧵⤵️

A smartphone on a stand shows the website “dissident-tour.com” with the text “Are you ready to unveil the secrets of Vilnius underground?”

A speaker, Florian Irminger, in a grey suit with a white shirt, holding a tablet, sits on stage with a microphone headset. A presentation screen is behind him.

A panel discussion at the 8th Leonidas Donskis Memorial Conference. Five panelists are seated on stage in front of a screen showing “Panel II” with the names of the moderator Janet Gunn and panelists Anna Chernova, Florian Irminger, Jonathan Boyd, and Brigita Dyburytė. Audience members are seated in rows facing the panel.

A desk with posters reading “NO!” and “ALIVE? ALIVE.” in front of a large wall image showing three soldiers, one holding a European Union flag. All of it in Ukrainian colours.

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 20/09/2025

2026 wird @SwissMFA @ignaziocassis🇨🇭 den #OSZE-Vorsitz übernehmen. Dies bietet die Gelegenheit, sich auf eine der Kernaufgaben zu konzentrieren: eine regelbasierte Sicherheit, mit Menschenrechte im Mittelpunkt, schreibe ich mit @EleMongelli @swissinfo_de www.swissinfo.ch/ger/krieg-fr...

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 18/09/2025

Russia regressed to a Stalinist regime of total repression. We need to know that we are not dealing with the Soviet Union of the 1980s when it through political imprisonment basically ended the Russian human rights movement — the situation is now worse, details Robert van Voren.

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 18/09/2025

“Back to Square One?” Leonidas Donskis Conference about to start in Vilnius, discussing the rise and fall of the Helsinki Agreements #OSCE2025. Follow here for live updates ⤵️

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 16/09/2025

➡️ Join us Thursday in Vilnius fgip-global.org/the-eighth-l...

Poster for the Eighth Leonidas Donskis Memorial Conference, titled “Back to Square One? The Rise and Fall of the Helsinki Agreements”, held on 18 September 2025 at ISM University of Management and Economics in Vilnius, Lithuania. The design features large red numbers “1975–2025” with a background photo and event details.

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 16/09/2025

Back in Vilnius ❤️🇱🇹 I’ll speak at the Leonidas Donskis Conference the panel “Human Rights: from Hope to Despair”⚡️ With @eleonoramongelli.bsky.social, I argue Switzerland’s 2026 OSCE presidency is a chance to put rights back at the core of security 🔗 www.swissinfo.ch/eng/war-peac...

Portrait of Eleonora Mongelli and Florian Irminger, co-authors of an article on Switzerland’s 2026 OSCE presidency.

Poster for the 8th Leonidas Donskis Memorial Conference titled “The Rise and Fall of the Helsinki Agreements”, held on 18 September 2025. The poster features a photo of Florian Irminger, listed as a speaker, with the text “Register Now” and the website sakharovcenter-vdu.eu

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 10/09/2025

En cette Journée mondiale de prévention du suicide, rappelons-nous que le suicide est la première cause de mortalité chez les 15-29 ans en Suisse. Ce sujet reste encore trop tabou. Nous pouvons faire la différence 💙 🔗 stopsuicide.ch

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 31/08/2025

Civil society in Georgia is under attack 🇬🇪🚨 🚔 Crackdowns ⚖️ Arbitrary arrests 💳 Frozen bank accounts. As civil society leader Ucha Nanuashvili writes, @coe.int must act now to defend human rights rights and democracy, and their defenders. 🔗 mailchi.mp/csf-ev.org/j...

A large crowd of protesters gathers outside the illuminated Georgian Parliament building in Tbilisi at dusk. Three flags—European Union, Georgia, and Ukraine—are prominently raised in the foreground, waving above the crowd. Many demonstrators hold signs, including one that reads "We are Europe." The mood is defiant and hopeful. Photo taken on 5 March 2025 by Vano Shlamov for AFP/Getty Images.

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 20/08/2025

Maybe more now than ever, we need to address the perceived dychotomy between human rights and humanitarian aid. Upholding rights is saving lives. 🔗 progress-change-actionlab.org/human-rights...

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 19/08/2025

This must stop. 7 October was horror for Israel and Jews everywhere. The rise in antisemitism since is one of this decade’s great dangers. What happened in Gaza will scar generations. Children killed, wounded, orphaned — it is unbearable. Time for peace is now 🕊️ 🔗 www.nytimes.com/2025/08/15/w...

A barefoot child leaps over a stream of rubbish-filled water in a camp for the displaced on a beach in Gaza City. Makeshift tents and destroyed buildings are visible in the background. Credit: Saher Alghorra for The New York Times.

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 15/08/2025

Trump-Putin summit 🇺🇸🇷🇺 No peace with impunity, without justice ⚖️ Shelling, disappearances, torture, systematic sexual violence, executions—this cannot be erased by a “deal” in Alaska between two men who don't care about civilians 🌍 Full @tv5monde.info discussion 🎦 msod.tv5monde.com/tv5monde/inf...

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 15/08/2025

As President Trump is departing the White House to meet President Putin in Anchorage, Alaska (USA), I'd recommend you take a minute to read this civil society appeal published in @lemonde.fr (available in English and French). ➡️ www.lemonde.fr/idees/articl...

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 10/08/2025

Civil society is under assault—not for losing relevance, but because it works🌍 From “foreign agents” laws to smear campaigns & violence, repression targets impact. My take on “The End of the Age of NGOs?” 🔗 www.linkedin.com/pulse/end-ng... Let's resist, persist, build resilience✊

Poster by Former UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai, with the UN emblem in the top left and a photo grid of cheering people, one of whom is holding a rainbow flag. Large text reads: “The world's got 99 problems — Civil society isn't one of them.” Smaller text at the bottom says: “#97: A world without it is. Throughout history and across cultures, civil society has enabled people to hold the powerful to account, to advocate for social change, and to make their communities a better place. Its contributions are vast, from the anti-slavery and anti-apartheid movements, to women’s suffrage, to the fight for LGBTI rights and more. How much has it contributed? Find out in the Special Rapporteur’s June 2017 report.” Includes website link http://www.freeassembly.net

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 09/07/2025

Thoughtful essay on identity politics by @tessyschlo.bsky.social 🤔 An honest reckoning. From Jewish emancipation to Afro-Mexican recognition: identity came from exclusion. We don’t need sameness to stand together. 🔗 www.theideasletter.org/essay/why-id... @open-society.bsky.social

A group of Afro-Mexican men wearing elaborate traditional costumes and masks, some with antlers or horns, cross a zebra crossing during a cultural celebration in Mexico City. They wear vibrant shirts, embroidered capes, and shaggy fur pants. Behind them, other participants and spectators line the street, some wearing masks. A large historic government building with the Mexican flag is visible in the background under a cloudy sky. The scene blends festivity, resistance, and heritage in a public display of Afro-Mexican identity and presence.

Members of various indigenous and afro-Mexican groups march against discrimination and racism in Mexico City on 9 August 2021. © Cristian Leyva/Nurphoto/Shutterstock

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 26/06/2025

📘 Defending Defenders — our new Human Rights Compass policy brief is out. Human rights defenders are among the most exposed — and the most essential — voices in our democracies 🕊️ As repression rises and allies retreat, this is a blueprint to act 🛡️ 🔗 progress-change-actionlab.org/human-rights...

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 16/06/2025

🔧 In our brief on multilateral diplomacy, we demanded feminist foreign policy be translated into practice — in climate, finance, AI, and beyond. 🔗 progress-change-actionlab.org/human-rights...

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 16/06/2025

🌐 In Saving Lives, Upholding Rights, we called for a UN Compact to protect gender rights in crisis — and for real, sustained funding of women-led organisations. 🔗 progress-change-actionlab.org/human-rights...

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 16/06/2025

👩‍⚖️ In our Global Realignment brief, we urged states to elevate feminist leadership and embed gender justice across peace, security & foreign policy frameworks. 🔗 progress-change-actionlab.org/human-rights...

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 15/06/2025

🎷We need to play jazz🎷 The sheet music is burning. Improvisation — listening to each other, to the sounds around us — is how we survive as a human rights movement. 🎧 With Dave Schoof on The Pivot about jazz, the future of human rights and more: daveschoof1.podbean.com/e/navigating...

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 13/06/2025

🧭 NEW: “Fractured Order” Our latest policy brief outlines 5 urgent actions to restore rights-based multilateralism — in a world of growing transactionalism, non-normative alliances, and democratic backsliding. 📥 progress-change-actionlab.org/data/files/g...

Infographic titled "Fractured Order" from the Human Rights Compass. It contrasts two columns.

On the left, under "Collapse of Rights-Based Multilateralism," it lists:

Rise of “transactional diplomacy”

Expansion of non-normative platforms

Disproportionate impact on marginalised groups

Regression in human rights funding

Challenge to international gender-based approaches

On the right, under "Restoring Human Rights Multilateralism," it lists:

Promote rights-based global engagement

Reclaim regional institutions as guardians of democratic norms

Focus on potential of multilateral platforms for human rights governance

Preserve institutional investments in human rights

Advance a feminist approach to rights-based diplomacy

A yellow lightning bolt separates both columns.

Website link at the bottom: www.humanrightscompass.org.

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 11/06/2025

A powerful weekend with fellow FGIP Board members 🧠⚖️ At time of war, disinfo, authoritarianism, psychiatry is again misused to silence dissent. FGIP’s mission—protect human rights in mental health—matters more than ever. Join us in Vilnius on 18 September.

Back to Square One: The Rise and Fall of the Helsinki Agreements
8th Leonidas Donskis Memorial Conference
18 September 2025
Vilnius, Lithuania

This conference takes place against this dual backdrop: the re-emergence of psychiatric repression and the widespread mental health crises generated by today’s violent conflicts. It is a call to the human rights, humanitarian, and mental health communities to reconnect with one another – to examine the hidden wounds of today’s wars, to expose how psychiatry is once again misused for repression, and to assert that the protection of mental health must be a cornerstone of our response to the crises of our time.
FGIP’s founding mission – to promote humane, rights-based mental health care and to fight the political abuse of psychiatry – is more relevant than ever.

Board members and leaders of FGIP enjoy an apperitif at the start of the retreat.

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 10/06/2025

Wonderful to meet up with these two exceptional human rights defenders Ucha Nanuashvili and Emin Huseynov. Thanks to them for taking the time to meet me and discuss challenges of rights defenders in established and emerging autocracies and difficulties of defenders having to live in exile.

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 22/05/2025

One of the most devastating trends: suicide now accounts for more than 1 in 10 deaths in prison in some regions. Overcrowding, failing mental health systems, and a rising toll on women are driving this crisis. #MentalHealth #PrisonReform

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 22/05/2025

2024 was the biggest election year in history — over 3.7 billion people were eligible to vote 🗳️ But in prisons, millions were shut out. Disenfranchisement laws, logistical barriers, and systemic exclusion kept many behind bars and out of democracy.

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 22/05/2025

🚨 #GlobalPrisonTrends 2025 by @penalreformint.bsky.social 🚨 A must-read for anyone working on #HumanRights or believing in fair, effective justice. The state of prisons today: poverty-driven detention of women, record executions, overcrowding-fuelled abuse. 🔗 www.penalreform.org/resource/glo...

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 13/05/2025

Sad to see the kind of Prime Minister Keir Starmer is becoming. He’s now feeding a dangerous populist narrative on immigration. As he knows, rights aren’t granted by favour. For refugees, children, those protected under human rights law, settlement is indeed a right.

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 13/05/2025

Intigam Aliyev's situation in #Azerbaijan symbolises @coe.int's silence. He's an iconic lawyer who has defended over 140 people in the European Court of Human Rights — only to be disbarred and imprisoned. We need a convention and we urgently need political courage from Strasbourg.

Azerbaijani human rights lawyer speaking at Azad Fikir University on 23 December 2012. He was arrested in Baku in 2014. The Court ruled in his favour, too. Azerbaijan ignored the ruling. The Committee of Ministers did nothing. The International Bar Association honoured him. The Council of Europe remained silent.

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 13/05/2025

🌻Good new day deserves a 🧵⤵️ Today, the @coe Convention on the Protection of Lawyers opens for signature. I remember advocating for this text alongside the brilliant lawyers Anton Milan & Khalid Baghirov. Thanks to Sabien Lahaye-Battheu for her leadership allowing this to happen 💙

Belgian MP Sabien Lahaye-Battheu became rapporteur of PACE examining the call for a Convention on the Protection of Lawyers. It is ultimately her report that made this happen: https://pace.coe.int/en/files/24296

At the PACE hearing of 13 November 2017, on “The case for drafting a European Convention on the profession of lawyer”:
Khalid Baghirov, Azerbaijani lawyer, Baku, Azerbaijan
Milan Antonijevic, at the time Director of YUCOM, Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights, Belgrade, Serbia
Florian Irminger, at the time Human Rights House Foundation's Head of Advocacy

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 12/05/2025

🚨 Humanitarian aid is being stripped of human rights, civic space & gender equality. New briefer by Human Rights Compass offers 5 ways to reclaim a rights-based response in times of crisis. 📘“Saving Lives, Upholding Rights” progress-change-actionlab.org/data/files/s...

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 27/04/2025

Quelques heures à l’abri du bruit pour découvrir la nouvelle œuvre de Karine Tuil…

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 25/04/2025

❤️ Il y a 25 ans, nous avons créé @stopsuicide1 ❤️ 🔗 www.tdg.ch/geneve-stop-...

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 22/04/2025

Really proud to contribute to a non-toxic social network @bsky.app @jay.bsky.team 💙 Here with my first 400 followers and on @humanrightsindex.bsky.social with a community of a little over 50k. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 16/04/2025

Launching Human Rights Compass. To face the moment, we bring together leading #HumanRightsDefenders. We analyse and we recommend a way forward. Now. 🔗 humanrightscompass.org

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 24/03/2025

Maybe the best tweet ever… Just too bad Secretary Clinton isn’t on @bsky.app (yet?).

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 12/03/2025

In uncertain times, going #BackToBasics can bring clarity. Karl Popper’s The Open Society and Its Enemies reminds us that today’s authoritarians often use democracy to dismantle it. His defence of open societies is more relevant than ever. #DemocracyMatters

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Florian Irminger @florianirminger.ch · 11/03/2025

Proud to be part of launching Human Rights Compass and @humanrightsindex.bsky.social here on @bsky.app to help the human rights community navigate a shifting and increasingly hostile landscape. 🔗 progress-change-actionlab.org/our-initiati...

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