Our team
The team is driven by a set of values, which are:
- Excellence in all we do, delivering to high standards, only taking work where we can deliver to those standards, improving our own effectiveness so we can more smoothly deliver to those standards.
- Trust and support, with the team feeling empowered to deliver and to take initiative, learning from mistakes in a positive way.
- Accountability for delivering to high standards, always seeking to ensure substantive delivery and real-world impact, facing up to challenges honestly.
- Openness, always seeking to reach out to colleagues and partner organisations to develop and share knowledge collaboratively.
Biljana Braithwaite
Western Balkans Programme Director
Biljana leads the AIRE Centre’s Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme. She has over twenty years’ experience developing, funding and delivering more than fifty rule of law projects, ranging from strengthening national judiciaries and other forms of technical assistance, human rights training, legislative reform, and the fight against corruption, often in partnership with local civil society. A lawyer by training with degrees from Belgrade University and Lund University’s Raoul Wallenberg Institute, Biljana began her career at the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights and has been associated with the AIRE Centre since 1998. She founded and co-edits the professional legal bulletin, Human Rights in Europe, now over 150 editions. She has also co-edited a series of guides for judges, decision makers and practitioners in South East Europe on freedom of expression, international child protection, and European asylum law. She is a member of the boards of the AIRE Centre USA and International Bridges to Justice. She is a founding partner Sustineri Partners, a consultancy working with companies and other organisations to put sustainability at the heart of their business.
Project Managers
Sabina Đapo
Programme Manager
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Project Manager, Montenegro Rule of Law Project
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Project Manager, BiH Rule of Law Project
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Legal experts
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Senior Legal Adviser
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Researcher
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Press and communications
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Office management and project support
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Expert and Associates
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Programme Manager
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Senior Legal Adviser
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Project Manager, Montenegro Rule of Law Project
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Project Manager, BiH Rule of Law Project
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Catharina is senior legal consultant to the AIRE Centre and works on a number of its key programmes including the Annual Rule of Law Conference. She has been associated with the AIRE Centre since 2000. By background Catharina is a Swedish lawyer. She has lectured on the substantive and procedural aspects of the European Convention on Human Rights throughout Europe and was between 2005 and 2014 a Visiting Lecturer at the International Relations Programme at Regent’s University, London. Catharina is the co-editor of a number of publications, including the Legal Bulletin Human Rights in Europe containing articles and analyses on cases from the ECtHR and the CJEU. She has also co-edited and contributed to a large number of publications on topics such as the effective implementation of the ECHR, the right to a fair trial, the prohibition of ill-treatment and children’s rights. In addition, as part of a team of European experts, Catharina has been involved in the drafting of a human rights training manual for professional target groups across the Council of Europe.
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Vesna Mijić started her collaboration with AIRE Center in 2016 as the contact person between the Office of the President of the Constitutional Court and AIRE Centre. She works on AIRE Center projects related to increasing judicial capacity, harmonizing domestic judicial practice and harmonizing practice with European standards, strengthening judicial response to serious and organized crime and impunity in BiH. Vesna joined the AIRE Center team as an associate in 2023 on the Gender project, simultaneously continuing work on previous projects. He is the key person in communication with the courts and prosecutor’s offices of Bosnia and Herzegovina and organizational matters related to all aspects of conferences, trainings, seminars.
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme
Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme