As a consequence of the war in eastern Ukraine, approximately 1,5 million Ukrainians are internally displaced. More than a year after the adoption of the "Law on Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Internally Displaced Persons", Ukraine continues its work on strengthening the protection of its IDPs, with a special focus on the legal framework of human rights.
Against this backdrop, the Natolin Neighbourhood Days 2016 organized by the European Neighbourhood Policy Chair were concluded by a high-level event, featuring a lecture by Mr Christos GIAKOUMOPOULOS, the Council of Europe’s Director of Human Rights and Special Advisor to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe on Ukraine (SASG), who addressed Europe’s responses to displacement in its ‘near abroad’.
Mr Christos GIAKOUMOPOULOS was appointed Director of Human Rights in the Directorate General Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe in 2011. He has also been appointed Council of Europe migration coordinator and Special Adviser of the Secretary General (SASG) for Ukraine. He was Director of Monitoring in the same Directorate General since 2006. Before joining the Directorate General of Human Rights, he was General Counsel and General Director for Legal and Administrative Affairs of the Council of Europe Development Bank (Paris). Since joining the Council of Europe in 1987, he held posts in the Registry of the European Court of Human Rights, the Venice Commission and was Director in the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights.