Jury

Maria Chichtchenkova

A protection coordinator for Europe and Central Asia at Front Line Defenders, an Irish international human rights organisation that provides fast and effective action to help protect human rights defenders at risk so they can continue their work as key agents of social change. She is responsible for developing contacts with human rights defenders throughout Europe and Central Asia, providing rapid response to cases of HRDs at risk, undertaking research and fact-finding missions on the threats and attacks that they face, providing analysis and producing relevant materials to take action in their support. She has over 10 years’ experience of work with national and international human rights organisations in the region. She holds an M.A. in Social Sciences from L'École Normale Supérieure and L'École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Paris).