Our Staff
Executive Director - Dezideriu Gergely
He is a human rights lawyer and a member of the Bucharest Bar. He joined the ERRC from the National Council for Combating Discrimination, the Romanian equality state body, where he served for six years as a Member of the Steering Board and Secretary of State. He began his career in private law practice, before joining Romani CRISS, the Roma Center for Social Intervention and Studies. He was head of the Human Rights Department there for four years. He has lectured widely on anti-discrimination law in Romania, providing training sessions for judges, prosecutors, police officers, activists and students. He represented Romania at the Council of Europe Committee of Experts on Roma and Travellers and was twice elected Chair of the Committee. He also represented Romania at the European Commission Governmental Experts Group on Non-Discrimination during 2008-2011. He holds a master degree on European and Romanian Constitutional law and a bachelor’s degree in science of law from Babes Bolyai University Law School. He was a human rights fellow at Columbia University School of Law in New York, and graduated from the George Marshall College of International and Security Studies in Germany and the Romanian Diplomatic Institute.
Staff
Darya Alekseeva, Lawyer. She holds a Master of Laws from the South Federal University, Rostov-on-Don, Russian Federation, a Master of Arts in Human Rights from Central European University (CEU), Budapest, Hungary, and a post-graduate certificate in Project Management from the CEU Business School. She joined the ERRC in December 2009.
Tara Bedard, Programmes Director. She holds a Masters of Business Administration - International Management from Centenary College, USA, a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Development Studies from the University of Toronto, Canada, and a post-graduate diploma in International Project Management. She joined the ERRC in October 2001.
Dzavit Berisha, Research and Publications Officer. He has a secondary school degree as a miner. Due to the war in Kosovo he didn't have the opportunity to further his education. Since 1999 he is a human rights activist, working to defend the rights of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian refugees in Macedonia. He joined the ERRC in June 2004.
Dora Eke, Programmes Assistant. She has a degree in Computer Programming (Information Systems option) from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Canada. She managed the Freedom Forum Library at the Center for Independent Journalism for seven years. She joined the ERRC in January 2004.
Judit Geller, Legal Officer. She holds a BA degree in Public Administration from the Corvinus University of Budapest and a Law Degree from the Eotvos Lorand University Budapest. She studied one academic year at the Law Faculty of University of Leuven, Belgium and completed a traineeship at the European Court of Human Rights. She joined the ERRC in November 2007.
Sinan Gokçen, Media and Communications Officer. He is also the Coordinating Editor of the Roma Rights journal, ERRC's flagship publication. He is a human rights activist and journalist with around 20 years of experience in Turkey, Europe, the Balkans and Central Asia. He is a founding member of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly, one of the pioneering human rights organisations of Turkey. He earned an MA degree in Human Rights Law from Central European University as an Open Society Justice Initiative Fellow. He joined the ERRC in October 2006.
Dana Iepure, Lawyer. She holds a Certificate of Transnational Law from the University of Geneva (Switzerland) and an MA in European Institutions and Procedures from Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca (Romania). She is a member of Romanian Bar Association. Before joining ERRC, she worked as a lawyer in Romania and in 2007 she worked as a legal officer within the Registry of the European Court of Human Rights. She joined ERRC in December 2010.
Andrea Jamrik, Financial Officer. She holds a Master of Business Administration from Budapest's University of Economic Sciences (renamed Corvinus University), and a tax advisory degree from the University in Miskolc. She worked as a chief accountant until joining the ERRC in 2009. She joined the ERRC in January 2009.
Djordje Jovanovic, Research Coordinator. He holds a university degree in preschool education and completed Romology studies at the University of Novi Sad. He also studied psychotherapy at the school of Transactional Analysis (TA) and is a TA practitioner. Djordje has had a long relationship with the ERRC. He was an intern in 2001, in 2003 he joined the staff as a Research Assistant and after that he worked as a researcher in various ERRC projects. He joined the ERRC in November 2009.
Csilla Kacso, Project Financial Officer. She has a degree in Banking and stock exchange and a degree in Physics and Physics teacher, both from the Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj, Romania. She mostly worked in the field of financial investment, as a software expert, and as an economics and physics teacher. She joined the ERRC in 2006.
Dzhevid Mahmud, Legal Trainee. He holds a Masters of Public Policy - International Public Policy and Media, Information and Communication Policy streams from Central European University, Budapest, Hungary and a Masters of Law from the Varna Free University, Bulgaria. He joined the ERRC in September 2010.
Hajnalka Nemeth, Office Coordinator. She started her career as the Secretary to the Executive Director for a Construction Company. She moved to Budapest in 1990 and worked at MTI (Hungarian News Agency) as an English Language Operator. She joined the ERRC in January 2005.
Julianna Oros, Financial Officer. She graduated from the in Budapest University of Technology and Economics and a post-graduate degree in statistics. She also completed a tax-advisory course. She joined the ERRC in June 2004.
Anna Orsos, Programmes Assistant. She studied Human Management in PTE-FEEK and completed an international program in NGO Management, Advocacy and Public Campaign Facilitation at the International Peoples' College in Helzingor, Denmark. She worked as a regional coordinator at the National Educational Integration Network and at the Amrita association for Integrated education of Roma youth. Her experience includes work with PHARE, HEFOP and many research projects. She joined the ERRC in January 2009.
Marianne Powell, Communications Officer. She has a BA Hons in English Literature and Spanish from Sheffield University, as well as postgraduate qualifications in journalism (PMA training) and digital media management (Birkbeck University). She has more than six years experience of working on communications with non-profit organisations. She joined the ERRC in November 2011.
Anca Sandescu, Human Rights Trainer. She holds an LLM in International and European Law from the University of Amsterdam and an MA in Human Rights from Central European University, Budapest. She previously worked with PATRIR, the Romanian Peace Institute, the Ethnocultural Diversity Resource Center (EDRC) in Romania and several other European NGOs such as UNOY Peacemakers in the Netherlands and the Human Rights Students Initiative in Hungary. She joined the ERRC in March 2010.
Marek Szilvasi, Research Officer. He holds a BA and MA in Sociology and Philosophy from the Palacky University Olomouc, the Czech Republic, and a MA in European integration and identity-building processes (Euroculture, Europe in the Wider World) from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. He is currently completeing a PhD in political sociology. Marek previously worked with the Secretariats of the Decade of Roma Inclusion and the European Sociological Association (ESA). He joined the ERRC in February 2012.
Edina Tordai, Legal Trainee. She holds a Masters of Law from the University of Debrecen, Hungary. She joined the ERRC in January 2011.
Victoria Vasey, Legal Advisor. She holds a first degree from the University of Oxford and a DESS (LLM) in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law from the University of Paris II (Pantheon-Assas). She is a member of the Bar of England and Wales. She joined the ERRC in May 2009.
Hajnal Vernes, Finance Director. She holds a Masters degree from Corvinus University of Budapest, Faculty of Economics and a diploma in Finance and Banking from Budapest Business School, Faculty of Finance and Accountancy. She worked as a Financial Manager for Civic Education Project and as a Financial Coordinator at the Open Society Institute, in the Open Society Justice Initiative department. She joined the ERRC in May 2009.
