EIUC Voice n° 11 - May 2010

BOOSTING THE E.MALUMNI ASSOCIATION An interview to Cristiano Gianolla, EIUC Networking Officer,
and Corinna Greco, EIUC Communication Manager and E.MAlumni Vice-President ad interim
What is the E.MAlumni Association?
It is the association of graduates of the
E.MA programme. By September 2010
the E.MAlumni community will count
more than 1000 members representing
a qualified force in the human rights
professional market all around the globe.
Which are the aims of E.MAlumni?
Through its activities the Association aims
at promoting and reinforcing contacts
between its members, at supporting EIUC
activities and promoting HR & D in Europe
and throughout the world.
What is the role of EIUC and of the EC?
Some attempts to create and launch the
E.MAlumni Association took place since the
first meeting in November 2002 in Venice;
over the years and with the growing
number of graduates it became important
also for EIUC and for the EC to press
alumni to relaunch the Association by the
appointment of a dedicated staff member.
The meetings held on 21 May were possible
through these two actors and E.MAlumni
appreciated the support and active
participation of the EC representatives
(DG RELEX and DG AIDCO) and the EIUC
Secretary General.
What happened on 21 May 2010?
The E.MAlumni Inaugural Meeting took
place in Brussels. The morning session was
devoted to a seminar on Human Rights
Defenders with Mr. Alessio Cappellani (DG
RELEX) and Mr. Vincent Forest (Front Line)
as keynote speakers.
Six Alumni participated in a lively and
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EIUC is pleased
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Democratisation:
United Nations
Reform and the New
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Edited by Peter G. Danchin, Horst Fischer.
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ISBN 978-0-521-51543-6 Hardback
interesting round
table during
which some of the
difficulties faced
by human rights
defenders around
the world were
illustrated. These
Alumni were Mr.
Ewoud Plate (E.MA
98/99, Aim for
Human Rights), Mr.
Igor Vorontsov (E.MA 00/01, PeaceNexus),
Ms Susanna Daag (E.MA 04/05, CIFCA), Ms
Lena Barrett (E.MA 06/07, Uni York - Centre
for Applied Human Rights), Ms Diana Doris
Akiidii-M’Bingham (E.MA 06/07, GTZ), Ms
Lydia Malmedie (E.MA 07/08, Stonewall)
and Ms Sophie Mirgaux (E.MA 07/08,
Belgian MFA) acted as moderator.
Before the General Assembly was opened in
the afternoon, Mr. Sanel Huskic (President
of ACIPS –Association Alumni from the
Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of
Sarajevo) presented ACIPS’ history and
developments allowing it to become,
over the years, a key NGO in Bosnia and
Herzegovina.
Which are the tools of E.MAlumni and how
will it contribute to the promotion of HR
and democratisation?
By using the E.MAlumni website,
members can: access statistics about their
occupation and field of expertise; search
on the internal CVs database; join various
discussion fora; vote online for decisionmaking
and election processes; post job and
internship; submit project proposals for
professional and social interaction and
cooperation.
How do you assess this E.MAlumni
Inaugural Meeting?
The whole day was successful: first of
all for the great attendance of E.MA
graduates and students representing all
academic years, then for the interesting and
inspiring presentations on HR defenders
from the EC and E.MAlumni experiences
and perspectives, finally for the E.MAlumni
General Assembly discussions about the
roles and potentialities of the Association.
The E.MAlumni’s Statute was amended and
then adopted with enthousiasm. It now
includes, in its Preamble, the fundamental
role of EIUC for the E.MAlumni Association,
as well as new modalities to conduct remote
discussions and to implement decisionmaking
processes through the E.MAlumni
website. The GA also entrusted the future
President and Board with two core actions:
the strengthening of the network and its
visibility outside the Association, other
than the realisation of a first project within
a year.
What’s next for the E.MAlumni Association?
Besides continuing the registration of new
members in the Association, we are in the
heart of a busy period for the election for
the first President and Board. E.MAlumni
can campaign on the website until 15 June
and elections will take place from 16 till 30
June. Results will be known on 1 July 2010.
Follow us on
www.emalumniassociation.org
EIUC CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR THE SUMMER 2010
• 19-26/6: Académie d’été sur la bonne
gouvernance au Maghreb – “Bonne
gouvernance, État et société civile”
• 27/6: Meeting for the establishment of
a reflection group for networking in the
Maghreb region
• 1-10/7: Venice School of Human Rights
• 12-17/7: Venice Academy of Human Rights
• 15/7: round table on Strategies for
Development and Poverty Reduction with
Amartya Sen, Giorgio Sacerdoti, Manfred
Nowak, Guy Haarscher, Véronique
Arnault, and Bernd Eisenblätter
• 17/7: EIUC Diplomatic Conference on
The 2011 Review of the Human Rights
Council
• 18/7: Advisory Board meeting,
EIUC Board meeting
• 15/9: Start of the E.MA 2010/2011
• 24/9: E.MA Universities Fair
• 25/9: E.MA Theses Defence 2009/2010
• 26/9: E.MA Awarding Ceremony
2009/2010 and opening of the E.MA
academic year 2010/2011
• 27/9: Regional Masters meeting
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