ODIHR Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion or Belief
The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights appoints a panel of experts on freedom of religion or belief for a three-year term. Panel members serve in their personal capacities as experts on the topic of freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief, and not as representatives of their state, academic institutions, religious or belief communities or any other types of organization. ODIHR makes the panel's expertise available to participating States, OSCE field operations and non-governmental organizations.
The 2022-2025 panel was appointed on 1 June 2022 following an open call for applications.
The following members were appointed after an open call for applications:
- Thiago Alves Pinto
- Pasquale Annicchino
- Danil Buglov
- Elizabeth Clark
- Montserrat Gas Aixendri (2nd term)
- Mariam Gavtadse (2nd term)
- David Griffiths
- Jagbir Jhutti-Johal
- Marie Juul Petersen
- John Kinahan
- Genti Kruja
- Anne Kubai
- Isabella Sargsyan (2nd term)
- Ahmed Shaheed
- Dmytro Vovk (2nd term)
- Tamara Vukicevic
Biographical notes of the panel members are available here.
The composition of the panel displays the diversity of the OSCE region. Half of the seats on the 16-member panel have been allocated to women, and, for the first time, two seats are occupied by experts under the age of 30. This diversity also helps ODIHR to monitor regional trends in order to better assist OSCE participating States in the implementation of their commitments regarding this human right.