Friday, 24 April
14:20 – 14:45
Room: Salle de Guichets
Speakers
Agnese Lāce, Latvia Minister of Culture; co-chair of PROGRESĪVIE
Agnese Lāce is the Minister for Culture of the Republic of Latvia and Co-Chair of the political party The Progressives. She has served as Minister since June 2024. Agnese holds advanced degrees in Political Science and International Migration from prestigious institutions across Europe. She has worked extensively in migration and integration policy research and has been actively engaged in civil society initiatives and international cooperation projects. Her professional background includes policy development, research and advisory work on migration, integration and social cohesion at the European level.
Nika Kovač, My Voice My Choice
Nika Kovač is the founding director of the Institute 8th of March, a movement-building organization that uses storytelling and advocacy to confront gender and economic inequalities across Slovenia. Commemorating International Women’s Day, which is celebrated annually on March 8th, the organisation works to break the silence around sexual violence by gathering testimonials and data on issues of rape, abortion, and sexual assault across the country, as well us brings juistice nationwide with numerous campaigns. She has led three national referendum campaigns and changed 15 laws in Slovenia. Right now she’s leading a pan-European campaign My Voice, My Choice advocating for safe and accessible abortion in Europe using the mechanism of European Citizens’ Initiative. The campaign successfully collected more than 1 million signatures for the cause and mobilised thousands of people accross Europe. The initiative was received a positive response from the European Commission granting abortion access to millions of women in Europe. Nika is also the executive director of the Democracy Hub, an international organisation collecting innovative campaign practices and educating hundreds of activists worldwide. She won numerous awards, among them Slovenian woman of the year and Personality of the year, she was an Obama scholar and Obama leader, as well as the Vital Voices Global Leadership honoree.
Zoya Miari, Palestinian-Ukrainian Storyteller, Peace Ambassador
Zoya is a Palestinian-Ukrainian Peace Ambassador and storyteller. Her life journey has given her a unique perspective, having experienced two wars and becoming a refugee twice. Through these experiences, she discovered the transformative power of storytelling and the ability of individuals to shape their own narratives and the world around them. To share this vision, Zoya founded “Waves to Home,” a global storytelling movement aimed at changing the world through personal & collective stories. She is currently writing her first book, sharing her story as a message of hope and inner freedom. Zoya aspires to become a Positive Psychologist to help others create meaningful lives despite the traumas they have been through and to bring them back to life.
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Renata Ávila Pinto, CEO, Open Knowledge Foundation
Renata Avila Pinto is an international lawyer specialising in technology, data governance, intellectual property, digital trade, and privacy. As CEO of the Open Knowledge Foundation, she advocates for open data policies and technologies that promote equitable access to knowledge, accountability and digital sovereignty. She advises governments and international organisations on digital policies and digital infrastructure strategies. A former Stanford HAI fellow and an affiliate of the Centre for Internet and Society at CNRS, her research focuses on commons-based governance models for digital public infrastructure and AI. She has led legal and advocacy initiatives defending freedom of expression, privacy, and access to information, as well as the defence of whistleblowers, including Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Rigoberta Menchú Tum. Avila serves as an expert member of the UN working group on data governance at all levels and is a board member of Open Future and the Whistleblower Network in Germany.
