Personal data protection: an opportunity and an imperative for the Southern Mediterranean region
The importance of personal data is growing considerably, and this is true for virtually all modern activities, from the management of civil life, education and teaching, to commerce and many economic activities. It is also increasingly coveted for criminal activities, facilitated by the development of the digital environment. Personal data are also incorporated into digital ID projects, in a variety of ways, which may entail risks to the empowerment of individuals, respect for their human dignity as well as various forms of discrimination. Increasingly interconnected economies and the movement of people make data flows inevitable.
These issues will be addressed at the Regional Conference on Personal Data Protection, organised in collaboration with the National Data Protection Authority of Tunisia (INPDP) and the League of Arab States.
This conference will be an opportunity to raise awareness among the countries of the southern Mediterranean region of the need for strong personal data protection for the benefit of both individuals and economies. It also aims to offer participants representing countries in the region - Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia - an opportunity to exchange experiences and practices and to advance the issue in the region.
M. Jean-Luc SAURON
State Councillor, he has been delegated to European law at the Council of State since 2014. He teaches as an associate professor, then since 2005 at the University of Paris-Dauphine. Since September 2018, he has been the director of the RGPD-DPO University Diploma at the University of Paris Dauphine. He has written numerous articles, contributions to conferences and books on EU law and the European Convention on Human Rights.
Mme. Isabelle SERVOZ-GALLUCCI
Isabelle Servoz-Gallucci took up her functions of Head of the Data Protection Unit of the Council of Europe in June 2021, and she is the Secretary of the Committee of the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (‘Convention 108’). She is a lawyer by academic background, specialising in public international law and international relations. She graduated in Slavic Studies from Paris-Sorbonne University, as well as in International Administration and Politics from Panthéon-Assas University, Paris.
After working as a researcher at the Center for Research and Studies on Strategies and Technologies-CREST, Ecole Polytechnique (1995), she joined the intergovernmental and multilateral sector and held various positions within the OSCE and the United Nations, and the Council of Europe. She has worked in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the OSCE (1996), at the Directorate General for Research at the European Parliament (1997), at the Directorate General of Political Affairs of the Council of Europe (1997-2000), and at the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (2001-2002).
From 2003, she joined the Council of Europe where she worked successively at the Directorate of External Relations, then at the Directorate of Political Affairs and Democracy, at the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and at the Office of the General Directorate of Programs. She headed the Council of Europe Office in Pristina from 2015 to 2019 before joining the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs to serve as French Ambassador to Uzbekistan.
Mme Denise MAZZOLANI
Criminal lawyer, specialising in transnational organised crime and cybercrime. Before joining the Council of Europe's Cybercrime Programme Office as Head of the CyberSouth Programme, she worked for the OSCE as Deputy Head and Cybercrime Adviser in the Transnational Threats Department and as Head of the Security Co-operation Department of the OSCE Mission in Serbia. She has practised criminal law in Italy and worked for the United Nations and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on criminal justice and police reform initiatives in Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and El Salvador. She holds a Master's degree in European Policies and Regional Development from the Bologna Business School and a Master's degree in EU International Humanitarian Action (NOHA) from the University of Rome "La Sapienza". Most recently, she completed the UNITAR-IPI fellowship programme in peacemaking and preventive diplomacy.
Mme. Caroline GOEMANS-DORNY
Caroline Goemans-Dorny has been INTERPOL's Data Protection Officer (DPO) and Head of the Data Protection Office since January 2016. The mandate of the INTERPOL DPO includes independent compliance monitoring, advice, data protection awareness, liaison with the Supervisory Authority (INTERPOL's Commission for the Control of INTERPOL's Files - CCF) and co-ordination of the network of 194 DPOs appointed in INTERPOL member countries' National Central Bureaus.
Caroline was previously a Senior Adviser in the Legal Department. She has co-ordinated - among other things - INTERPOL's involvement in several projects, funded by the Council of Europe and the European Union, aimed at balancing the needs of modern policing with respect for the right to privacy and the protection of personal data. (SMART, RESPECT, E-Crime, EVIDENCE, MAPPING, GLACY+).
Prior to joining the INTERPOL General Secretariat, Caroline worked as a lawyer at the Antwerp Bar in Belgium and then as Secretary General of the Council of European Bars and Law Societies (CCBE). She then pursued an academic career as a research scientist at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Law and Informatics at the University of Leuven in Belgium (1997-2003), during which time she published numerous articles on privacy law and personal data protection.
M. Ignacio GOMEZ NAVARRO
Ignacio Gómez Navarro is an official of the European Union and legal officer of the Secretariat of the European Data Protection Committee (EDPS). The EDPS is an independent European body, established by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), to promote the consistent application of EU law on the protection of personal data. Within the EDPS, Mr Gómez deals with issues related to data transfers to countries outside the EU, data processing in relation to security and criminal offences, and general principles of EU data protection law. Before joining the EU institutions in 2020, Mr Gómez worked for eight years in the Office of Legal Affairs at INTERPOL's General Secretariat.
Mme. Drudeisha MADHUB
Ms Drudeisha Madhub has been the Data Protection Commissioner of the Mauritius Personal Data Protection Office since August 2007. She was previously a State Attorney at the Attorney General's Office for six and a half years.
She is a respected member of various international networks: Association francophone des autorités de protection des données personnelles (AFAPDP), Réseau africain des autorités de protection des données personnelles (RAPDP), Global Privacy Enforcement Network (GPEN), Common Thread Network (CTN) and the United Nations Global Pulse and represents Mauritius at the Council of Europe Convention 108 Committee. She was appointed as an expert on data protection and human rights by Interpol and a member of the Interpol Commission for the Control of Files from 2011 to 2018 with the specific function of judging data protection and human rights issues.
Ms Madhub was appointed as a UN Distinguished Expert, joining the UN Pulse Global Data Advisory Group in 2014 to provide expert advice on data protection.
In addition, she has published various articles in international journals and data protection guidelines which are available on the Data Protection Office website at the following URL.
