Katerina is a human rights legal expert, who for over 20 years works on legal and policy initiatives to protect civic freedoms.  As the Executive Director of the ECNL since 2012, she leads the only regional organisation in Europe focused entirely on law and policy that affect civil society. Katerina has been with ECNL through the phase of transition from a branch office to an independent and established European organization now based in the Hague.  She led the move of the office from Hungary and the Netherlands and currently works with her team to provide guidance to CSOs on relocation and registration practices.

Under her leadership ECNL broadened its expertise to respond to new trends impacting on the non-profit sector (e.g., securitization and counter-terrorism) while continuing to address challenges in public participation and the right of peaceful assembly. She has spoken at different forums to reflect on various civic space issues e.g., at TEDx event, EU Parliament hearing, launch of Community of Democracies’ Democracy and Security Dialogue Initiative. Katerina engages with the European Union, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the UN Human Rights Council and works to strengthen international standards to safeguard freedoms. She is member of the OSCE/OIDHR Panel on Freedom of Assembly and of Association and the Council of Europe Expert Council on NGO Law. She also volunteers her time in the board of several organizations.