Deputy Ombudswoman, Tena Šimonović Einwalter, was elected Equinet Chair of the Executive Board 2017-2019 on October 11 2017, at the first meeting of this new board, immediately after the General Assembly of Equinet Members.

„This is a great honour for me and the Ombudsman institution as well as for Croatia since this is a network which gathers institutions and organisations from the entire Europe, and which has been performing enormous work in creating equality. My goal is to proceed in the same direction towards enhanced protection of diversity and at the same time equality of citizens, irrespective of their ethnicity, age, religion, gender and other characteristics“, stated Šimonović Einwalter.

Given the fact that Ombudswoman Lora Vidović until 2019 chairs the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI), this is the first time that officials from the same institution chair two biggest human rights networks in Europe.

Tena Šimonović Einwalter, Deputy Ombudswoman since 2013, graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Faculty of Law at the University of Zagreb and finished the post-graduate studies of European and Comparative Law at the Faculty of Law at the University of Oxford. She is currently a representative of Croatia in the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) of the Council of Europe.

With the new role in EQUINET she will replace Evelyn Collins, Head of the Northern Ireland Equality Commission, who had extremely successfully led the network in the last four years. The same appraisal of the Collins work was expressed by the First Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans in his key note speech at the EQUINET 10th Anniversary event, held on 10th October in Brussels.

Equinet, European Network of Equality Bodies, brings together 46 organizations from 34 European countries, among others, Office of the Ombudswoman, Office of the Ombudswoman for persons with disabilities and Office for Gender Equality. The main Equinet’s duty is to promote equality in Europe by providing expert support to national equality bodies, including exchange of expertise, fostering cooperation as well as conducting researches and analysis on actual anti-discrimination issues at the European level.