Moderator: Dr. Dávid Vig Director of Amnesty International in Hungary

Biography:

Dávid Vig is the director of Amnesty International Hungary, one of the country’s leading human rights NGOs. He is focusing on rule of law issues, protecting LGBTQI rights and defending civic space. He is a well-known expert and activist on LGBTQI rights in Hungary. Vig co-led a major national campaign in 2022, which invalidated a homophobic and transphobic referendum in Hungary. A lawyer and a master in international relations by training, he obtained his PhD degree in 2014. Before joining Amnesty, he worked on torture prevention, fair trial rights. Prior to his previous role at the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, he worked as a researcher at the National Institute of Criminology, the Human Rights Program of the Open Society Foundations and the Board of Budapest Pride. At present, he is also a part-time assistant professor at the Faculty of Law at ELTE University Budapest, where he teaches criminology, penology and penitentiary law.

Özgür Gür Co-Founder of ÜniKuir Association

Biography:

Born in 1995, Özgür Gür pursued biology at Middle East Technical University with a strong commitment to both academics and social causes. He played a vital role in METU LGBTİ+ Solidarity, organizing pride events and supporting campus campaigns. Simultaneously, he engaged in other social movements and established connections with student associations. After graduating, Özgür co-founded the ÜniKuir Association, a prominent youth LGBTI+ activism organization, where he channels his skills for advocacy, high-level decision-making, community building, media, and financial management.

Mariami Kvaratskhelia Co-Founder & Activist of Tbilisi Pride

Biography:

Mariami Kvaratskhelia is an openly lesbian LGBTQI activist, co-founder, and former director of Tbilisi Pride. Over the past 8 years, she has tirelessly campaigned and advocated for the rights of LGBTQI individuals in Georgia at both the national and international levels. Mariam has been one of the organizers of the annual Tbilisi Pride Week since 2019, alongside working on human rights policy advocacy and community mobilization.

Denis Oleinik

Biography:

I’m Executive Director of ComingOut LGBTQ+ group, career coach and Diversity, equity, and inclusion Ambassador. I have more than 13 years of experience in different NGO’s as a community manager, volunteer coordinator and program manager. Also I worked as a recruiter, hr business partner and project manager in IT, GameDev, EdTech, HealthTech, Telecom industries.