About EDRi
Annual Reports
Board
Brussels office
Advisory Council
Membership and Observership

About EDRi

European Digital Rights (EDRi) is an association of civil and human rights organisations from across Europe. We defend rights and freedoms in the digital environment. You can find our members here.

Information technology has a revolutionary impact on our society. It has boosted freedom of communication and democracy but has also led to new approaches to surveillance and is increasingly used to impose restrictions on fundamental rights. Whenever citizens’ rights and freedoms in the online environment are endangered by the actions of political bodies or private organisations, we ensure that they are respected.

EDRi’s key priorities for the next years are privacy, surveillance, net neutrality and copyright reform.

EDRi is an international non-profit association (AISBL) under Belgium law granted by decree Nr7/CDLF/14.853/S of 12 February 2003 and registered in Brussels (n° BE0866.466.752). EDRi is registered in the EU Register of Interest Representatives under the number 16311905144-06. See public profile on the EU Register. The statutes of European Digital Rights are available in English and French.

Founded in June 2002, the Brussels office re-opened in 2009 and has expanded from one to nine employees over the past years. The Board is composed of five members.

Annual Reports

You can find our fundraising policy here.

Board

You can find more details on our board members here, and you may reach them via e-mail at board [at] edri.org.

President: Anna Fielder
London – UK

Vice-President: Katarzyna Szymielewicz
Warsaw – Poland

Treasurer: Walter van Holst
Rotterdam – the Netherlands

Member: Guillermo Beltrà
Brussels – Belgium

Member: Thomas Lohninger
Vienna – Austria

Member: Raegan MacDonald
Brussels – Belgium

Brussels office

You can get in touch with the Brussels office via e-mail at brussels [at] edri.org

Advisory Council

Nnenna Nwakanma
Juan-Carlos De Martin
Maria Farrell
Gordon Lennox

Find more details on our Advisory Council here.

Membership and Observership

There are two ways of being part of EDRi: Membership and Observership.

Members have the right to participate in EDRi annual General Assemblies with voting rights. This gives them greater influence when the priorities of the network for the next year are decided. Members also have eligibility to nominate a member for election to the Board. They have extended access to EDRi’s internal mailing list (up to 3 people subscribed, compare to 1 if being an Observer). The membership fee is 1% of the member organisation’s annual budget aimed at fighting for digital rights in Europe (this calculation is tailored for every particular case), with a minimum of EUR 200. You will find all the details about the membership status in Articles 3 and 4 of the EDRi statutes.

  • If you are a registered organisation applying for membership, please download this ODT form and send it back to brussels [at] edri.org.

Observer status is a good way of first getting involved with EDRi. It is an option designed either for suitable individuals willing to engage with our work or organisations that are not yet part of the EDRi network. The fee for observership is EUR 10 per year. Observers do not need to be registered as a non-profit.

Unless there are compelling reasons for this not to be the case, observer members will normally be expected to become full members.

What we offer to observers:
  • information and full participation to most EDRI discussions, working groups, activities and elaboration of policy positions;
  • access to some funding opportunities and participation in digital rights-related events;
  • opportunities to join projects, campaigns, etc.

What we expect from observers:

  • contributions to the general information collection, and contributions to the exchanges, discussions and actions; 
  • contributions to EDRigram, our fortnightly newsletter;
  • help to achieve EDRi’s objectives and goals or, if appropriate, contribute through donations.
    • If you are an individual applying for observer status, please download this ODT form and send it back to brussels [at] edri.org.
  • If you are an organisation applying for observer status, please download this ODT form and send it back to brussels [at] edri.org.

EDRi is a member of Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD).