Mrs Laurence LWOFF holds a MSc. in reproductive physiology from the University of Paris VI – Jussieu (France). She then obtained her degree in agronomy from the Institut National Agronomique Paris-Grignon (France) in 1986 and received her PhD in molecular biology in 1989.

She joined the Council of Europe in 1991, where she was entrusted with the responsibilities of the Secretariat of the Conventions concerning the use of animals in agriculture and science, in the Directorate of Legal Affairs. In 1999, her responsibilities were extended to biotechnology. She was the Secretary of the International Conference of the Council of Europe on Ethical Issues Arising from the Applications of Biotechnology (Oviedo, Spain, May 1999). In 2002, she joined the Bioethics Department where she has been responsible in particular for the activities on human genetics and on the protection of the human embryo and the foetus. She was the Secretary of the Group in charge of the elaboration of the Additional Protocol to the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, concerning Genetic Testing for Health Purposes.

She is currently the Head of Human Rights and Biomedicine Division and Secretary of the Steering Committee for Human Rights in the fields of Biomedicine and Health (CDBIO), intergovernmental committee in charge of the activities on the protection of human rights in the biomedical field, at the Council of Europe.

Ritva Halila, M.D., Ph.D. has been a member of the Committee on Bioethics (DH-BIO) since 1999 (at that time Steering Committee on Bioethics) and a member of the Bureau of the DH-BIO since the beginning of 2016. She was elected Chair of the DH-BIO in November 2020. In her previous work as the general secretary of the National Advisory Board on Social Welfare and Health Care Ethics she has been involved in medical ethics issues with special emphasis on end-of-life situations, medical research ethics and patients´ rights, especially children´s rights. During her last four years the National Advisory Board on Health Care Ethics published papers and opinions on wide variety of issues in health care, social care, and health care reform in Finland. One statement handled the rights of intersex children in health care (https://etene.fi/en/statements-and-opinions-2016). English translations of publications and opinions can be found at http://www.etene.fi/en. From the beginning of 2018 she has worked in the group of Children and Young People in the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health of Finland.

Christophe Lacroix is a historian, a member of the Belgian federal parliament and mayor of Wanze. After serving as a civil servant and ministerial advisor, he was elected, successively, member of the provincial parliament of Liège, member of the federal parliament’s Chamber of Representatives, senator, then member of the Chamber of Representatives again from 2019. He served as Walloon’s Minister for the Budget, Finances, Civil Service, Energy and the Climate from 2014 to 2017.

In the Belgian Chamber of Representatives, he is a member of the Committees on Foreign Relations, National Defence and the Economy, as well as of the Special Committee on the Colonial Past.

He has been a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe since 2018, and belongs to its Monitoring Committee as well as its Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination. He was also appointed the Assembly’s General Rapporteur on the rights of LGBTI persons in January 2022.

Dunja Mijatović was elected Commissioner for Human Rights on 25 January 2018 by the Parliamentary Assembly and took up her position on 1 April 2018. She is the fourth Commissioner, succeeding Nils Muižnieks (2012-2018), Thomas Hammarberg (2006-2012) and Alvaro Gil-Robles (1999-2006).

National of Bosnia and Herzegovina, she has been working to promote and protect human rights for the past two decades, thus acquiring extensive knowledge in the field of international monitoring, in particular as regards freedom of expression.

Prior to her appointment as Commissioner for Human Rights, she has served as OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media (2010-2017), Director of Broadcast of the Communications Regulatory Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (2001-2010), Chair of the European Platform of Regulatory Agencies (2007–2010) and of the Council of Europe's Group of Specialists on Freedom of Expression and Information in Times of Crisis (2005-2007).

Dunja Mijatović has regularly given lectures in national and international fora and has been awarded several human rights prizes. She has also been active in supporting NGO activities in the field of human rights education and asylum.

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Triantafillos Loukarelis, born in Athens 51 years ago, of Greek and Italian nationality, graduated in 1995 in Political Sciences - International Politics at the "La Sapienza" University of Rome. Currently Executive Director of UNAR (National Anti Discrimination Office) the Italian Equality Body member of the Equinet Network and Chairman of the CDADI (Steering Committee on Anti-Discrimination, Diversity and Inclusion) of the Council of Europe. Former Head of the Technical Secretariat of the Department for Equal Opportunities and Youth Policies of the Italian Government, in the recent past he was Head of External Relations and International Affairs of the Italian National Authority for Children. In the past, among others, he held positions in the Ministry of Agriculture - Italian representative to the Executive Committee of the ECA (European Commission on Agriculture) of FAO - and in the Ministry of Environment - Director of the Observatory for European and International Affairs. For several years he was a volunteer of the Italian Committee for UNICEF and then became a member of the Board of Directors and later Head of the Bureau and General Management. Expert in EU funds, for several years he was appointed as project manager for Euro-Mediterranean projects (EUMEDIS).

Mélodie Bernaux, M.D., MPH, MSc has been a member of the Committee on Bioethics (DH-BIO) since 2020.

She recently joined the eHealth delegation of the French ministry of Health to implement ethics of digital health at the national and European level.

In her previous work as medical lead for Human reproduction, embryology and genetics at the Directorate General for Health, she conducted the 2021 revision and application of the French bioethics laws for all aspects related to medically assisted reproduction (MAR), genetics, artificial intelligence ( AI) implementation in healthcare and medical management of intersex children.

As an active member of the Committee, she chairs the preparatory group for the Seminar and was appointed Rapporteur. She also chairs the working group on public dialogue in genomic medicine.

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Ruzica Boskic est sociologue. De 2004 à 2013, elle a été chercheuse, ses domaines de travail étaient la politique familiale et les droits de l'enfant. Elle a écrit et a été co-auteur de plusieurs articles scientifiques. Actuellement, elle travaille au ministère du travail, de la famille, des affaires sociales et de l'égalité des chances en Slovénie. De 2013 à 2016, elle a été directrice générale de la direction des affaires familiales. De 2014 à 2016, elle a été membre du conseil national d'experts pour la famille. De 2014 à 2016, elle a également été le point focal LGBTI par intérim pour la Slovénie et a co-organisé la réunion du point focal et la conférence "Different Paths to Equality" en 2017.

Elle est un membre actif du Comité directeur pour les droits de l'enfant (CDENF). En 2019, elle a été élue au bureau du CDENF. Avant cela, elle était membre du Comité ad hoc sur les droits de l'enfant du Conseil de l'Europe (CAHENF). Elle a également participé activement au groupe de rédaction d'experts sur les droits et les garanties des enfants dans le contexte de la migration (CAHENF- Safeguards).

Kristof Van Assche is a research professor of health law and kinship studies at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. He obtained a Ph.D. in philosophy from Ghent University and a Ph.D. in law from the Free University of Brussels (VUB). He lectures in philosophy of law and does research on the legal and ethical aspects of complex issues at the intersection of health law, personality rights, and human rights, including the rights of minors in healthcare; organ trafficking and organ donation; biobanking; medically assisted procreation; abortion; euthanasia and medically assisted suicide; discrimination in healthcare; human subjects research; involuntary treatment; neurotechnologies; genome editing; and the use of AI in healthcare. Apart from using a strictly legal approach, he also applies insights from ethics and philosophy of law. He is a member of several (hospital) ethics committees and of several task forces and working groups of international human rights organisations and professional bodies. From 2012 to 2014, he was project manager at the Bioethics Division of the Council of Europe, and he subsequently stayed involved in the work of the Steering Committee for Human Rights in the fields of Biomedicine and Health (CDBIO) of the Council of Europe, as an external consultant focusing on issues of equity.

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Ritva Halila, M.D., Ph.D. has been a member of the Committee on Bioethics (DH-BIO) since 1999 (at that time Steering Committee on Bioethics) and a member of the Bureau of the DH-BIO since the beginning of 2016. She was elected Chair of the DH-BIO in November 2020. In her previous work as the general secretary of the National Advisory Board on Social Welfare and Health Care Ethics she has been involved in medical ethics issues with special emphasis on end-of-life situations, medical research ethics and patients´ rights, especially children´s rights. During her last four years the National Advisory Board on Health Care Ethics published papers and opinions on wide variety of issues in health care, social care, and health care reform in Finland. One statement handled the rights of intersex children in health care (https://etene.fi/en/statements-and-opinions-2016). English translations of publications and opinions can be found at http://www.etene.fi/en. From the beginning of 2018 she has worked in the group of Children and Young People in the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health of Finland.

Professor Constantinos Phellas is the Senior Vice Rector at the University of Nicosia. Prof. Phellas received an MSc in Management Science and Operational Research from the University of Warwick, UK and an MSc in Advanced Social Research Methods and Statistics from City University London, UK. In 1998, Prof. Phellas obtained his PhD in Sociology from the University of Essex, UK. Prof. Phellas has more than two decades of teaching experience both in the UK and Cyprus and has been involved in several research projects funded by the Cyprus Research Council, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the European Commission and the Council of Europe. He has served as a consultant to various organizations including, among others, the World Health Organisation (WHO), the European Commission, the Council of Europe, the European Science Foundation (ESF), the Belgian Science Policy Council and the Hellenic Quality Assurance and Accreditation Agency. Prof. Phellas also serves as an evaluator for European Funding Agencies and holds official European and Governmental appointments; among others, he is the Chair of the Cyprus National Bioethics Committee, Chair of the Parliamentary Chamber for Civil Society, a member of the Cyprus Government's Covid-19 Advisory Scientific Board, a member of the Council of Europe’s Steering Committee for Human Rights in the fields of Biomedicine and Health (CDBIO), a member of the Cyprus National Transplant Board, a member of the UNESCO International Bioethics Committee. Prof. Phellas has published extensively and has attended several international conferences.

Laurence Brunet is a lawyer and researcher associated with the Institute of Legal and Philosophical Sciences of the Sorbonne (UMR 8103), University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne-CNRS, as well as with the INED (UR14). She is also a lecturer at the Institute of Judicial Studies of the University of Paris Sud (Public liberties and fundamental rights). Her research focuses on the legal notion of personal identity, in particular on filiation, parentage, reproductive rights and gender identity. 

In addition, after having been in charge of the Clinical Ethics Centre at the Cochin Hospital, Paris Centre University Hospitals, she has been performing similar functions at the Reference Centre for Rare Genital Development Diseases at the Kremlin-Bicêtre Hospital since September 2018. She also assists parents on legal issues related to variations in their child's genital development. 

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• born 1979 in Berlin
• married, three children
• 1998 - 2004 studies of law in Berlin, Paris and Munich
• 2001 Licence en droit at the University of Paris II (Panthéon/Assas)
• First State Examination 2004 in Munich
• Doctorate 2006 at the LMU Munich
• Second state examination 2007 in Munich
• Assistant at the LMU Munich (2007/2008) and the University of Göttingen (2008-2014), with Prof. Dr. Dagmar Coester-Waltjen
• 2010/2011 Research stays at the Universities of Cambridge, Paris I (Sorbonne) and Uppsala
• Habilitation 2013 in Göttingen
• Since 01.10.2014 Chair at the Faculty of Law of the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and Director at the Institute for Medical Law
• Since 01.04.2022 Dean oft he Faculty of Law of the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

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Gabi Calleja is the Head of the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Gender Expression and Sex Characteristics (SOGIGESC) Unit within the Human Rights Directorate in the Ministry for Home Affairs, Security, Reforms and Equality. She served as the Chair of Malta's LGBTIQ Consultative Council between 2015 and 2020. She was the Coordinator of the Malta LGBTIQ Rights Movement between 2007 and June 2018 and has been involved in advocacy work, policy development, strategic planning, training and capacity building, awareness raising and support to the LGBTIQ community since 2003. She served on the ILG-Europe executive board between 2010 and 2014, three of those years as co-chair. She read for a Masters in Youth & Community Studies with the University of Malta.

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Dr. Kári Hólmar Ragnarsson is assistant professor of law at the University of Iceland in Reykjavík, Iceland, where he teaches international law, human rights and constitutional law. He earned his Mag. Jur. law degree at the University of Iceland and practiced law as partner at Réttur – Aðalsteinsson & Partners in Reykjavík. Kári then completed his LL.M. and S.J.D. at Harvard Law School. His dissertation centered on socio-economic rights and the role of courts after the 2008 financial crisis. His research interests include law and political economy, equality and non-discrimination, socio-economic rights, constitution-making, human rights and climate change. Recently his publications have appeared in Global Constitutionalism, Scandinavian Studies in Law and the London Review of International Law. In 2019 Kári was appointed by the Icelandic Prime Minister as an expert in human rights law to an interdisciplinary working group on children born with variations in sex characteristics. He subsequently acted as lead drafter of a proposal supported by the working group that became law in Iceland in 2020.

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Professor Gary Butler is Consultant in Paediatric & Adolescent Endocrinology at University College Hospital in London and holds an Honorary Personal Chair in Clinical Paediatrics at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health.

He was given the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology Outstanding Clinician Award in 2020 as a result of his clinical expertise and significant national and international developments in the clinical practice of paediatric endocrinology and in particular in transgender medicine.

He established an adolescent endocrine service at UCLH with special focus on disorders of puberty and specialist clinics for gonadotropin deficiency, Klinefelter syndrome, and growth disorders. He is the clinical lead for the UK adolescent Gender Identity Development Service taking an international lead in the standards of care for transgender children and adolescents. He is acknowledged as an international expert in these areas and lectures in the UK and internationally.

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Ritva Halila, M.D., Ph.D. has been a member of the Committee on Bioethics (DH-BIO) since 1999 (at that time Steering Committee on Bioethics) and a member of the Bureau of the DH-BIO since the beginning of 2016. She was elected Chair of the DH-BIO in November 2020. In her previous work as the general secretary of the National Advisory Board on Social Welfare and Health Care Ethics she has been involved in medical ethics issues with special emphasis on end-of-life situations, medical research ethics and patients´ rights, especially children´s rights. During her last four years the National Advisory Board on Health Care Ethics published papers and opinions on wide variety of issues in health care, social care, and health care reform in Finland. One statement handled the rights of intersex children in health care (https://etene.fi/en/statements-and-opinions-2016). English translations of publications and opinions can be found at http://www.etene.fi/en. From the beginning of 2018 she has worked in the group of Children and Young People in the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health of Finland.

Professor Constantinos Phellas is the Senior Vice Rector at the University of Nicosia. Prof. Phellas received an MSc in Management Science and Operational Research from the University of Warwick, UK and an MSc in Advanced Social Research Methods and Statistics from City University London, UK. In 1998, Prof. Phellas obtained his PhD in Sociology from the University of Essex, UK. Prof. Phellas has more than two decades of teaching experience both in the UK and Cyprus and has been involved in several research projects funded by the Cyprus Research Council, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the European Commission and the Council of Europe. He has served as a consultant to various organizations including, among others, the World Health Organisation (WHO), the European Commission, the Council of Europe, the European Science Foundation (ESF), the Belgian Science Policy Council and the Hellenic Quality Assurance and Accreditation Agency. Prof. Phellas also serves as an evaluator for European Funding Agencies and holds official European and Governmental appointments; among others, he is the Chair of the Cyprus National Bioethics Committee, Chair of the Parliamentary Chamber for Civil Society, a member of the Cyprus Government's Covid-19 Advisory Scientific Board, a member of the Council of Europe’s Steering Committee for Human Rights in the fields of Biomedicine and Health (CDBIO), a member of the Cyprus National Transplant Board, a member of the UNESCO International Bioethics Committee. Prof. Phellas has published extensively and has attended several international conferences.

• Honorary Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Geneva and the University of Lausanne, previously Ordinary Professor, Head of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University Hospitals of Geneva and Director of the University Department of Psychiatry of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Geneva; after having been Ordinary Professor and Chief Physician of the University Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University Hospital Centre of Lausanne, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Biology and Medicine of the University of Lausanne
• Member of the Comité Consultatif National d'Éthique (CCNE) in Paris from 2013 to 2021, where he was co-rapporteur of Opinion 126 on societal demands for medically assisted procreation and of the part on procreation of Opinion 129 concerning the CCNE's position on the bioethics law, Opinion 132 on the ethical issues in the management of genital developmental variations, Opinion 134 on adoption, and currently engaged in the preparation of an opinion on ethics and psychiatry.
• Psychoanalyst, member of the École de la Cause Freudienne, of the NLS (New Lacanian School), of the World Association of Psychoanalysis, and in Switzerland of ASREEP-NLS, 
• Member of the Children Action Foundation in Geneva, which supports in particular actions in relation to teenage suicide,
• Co-founder of the Agalma Foundation in Geneva, which is dedicated to links between art, science and psychoanalysis,

Publications, among others: Mejia Quijano C, Germond M, Ansermet F. Sterile parenthood and medically assisted procreation: the thawing of becoming. Ramonville Saint-Agne: Erès, 2006; Ansermet F, Germond M, Mauron V, André M, Cascino F. Clinique de la procréation et mystère de l'incarnation: l'ombre du futur. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 2007; Ansermet F, Magistretti P. A chacun son cerveau: plasticité neuronale et inconscient, Odile Jacob, 2004, republished in paperback, Odile Jacob, Paris, 2011; Ansermet F. Magistretti P. Les énigmes du plaisir, Odile Jacob, Paris, 2010, ; Magistretti P, Ansermet F. (Dir.) Neurosciences et psychanalyse: une rencontre autour de la singularité. Paris: Odile Jacob, 2010Ansermet F., Clinique de l'origine, Ed. Cécile Defaut, Nantes, 2012; Ansermet F, La fabrication des enfants. Un vertige technologique. Odile Jacob, Paris, 2015; Ansermet F, Nourry P, Serendipity, Acte Sud, Arles, 2018; Ansermet F, Prédire l'enfant, PUF, Paris, 2019; Forestier F, Ansermet F, La dévoration numérique. Un profane comédie, Odile Jacob, Paris, 2021

Forthcoming: ; Ansermet F., L'origine à venir, Odile Jacob, Paris, 2022

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Born: 1966, Lappeenranta, Finland

Education:

1982-1984: Baccalaureate, Yhteiskoulu, Joensuu, Finland

1984-1991: Licentiate of medicine, University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland

1998: Specialist in Surgery, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

2000: Specialist in Paediatric Surgery, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

2011: Doctor of Medical Science (D.Med.Sc./M.D., Ph.D.), University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

Thesis: Vesicoureteral reflux in children.

Professional positions:

1984 – 1990: Temporary posts in several health centres in Finland.

1991 – 1992: Civilian service, Department of Surgery, North Carelia Central Hospital, Joensuu, Finland.

1992 – 1996: Senior house officer, Department Of Surgery, North Carelia Central Hospital, Joensuu, Finland.

1996 – 2000: Senior registrar, Department Of Paediatric Surgery, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland.

2000 – Present: Deputy Chief of Paediatric Surgery, Dep. Of Paediatric Surgery, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland.

Official posts:

2000 - 2001: Board member. The Society Of Finnish Paediatric Surgeons.

2002 – 2004: Secretary. The Society Of Finnish Paediatric Surgeons.

2004 – 2007: President. The Society Of Finnish Paediatric Surgeons.

2008 - Present: Board member. The Society Of Finnish Paediatric Surgeons.

2015 – 201: Board member. Working committee “HLBTI and Children” coordinated by the Finland’s Ombudsman for children.

Language and additional skills:

Finnish: Native Language

Swedish: Fluent

English: Fluent

French: Limited Proficiency

Facilitator: Ethics case reflection (ECR) work on clinical ethical dilemmas in medicine.

Student: University of Oulu (cultural anthropology and history, since 2019)

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Vladimir Kojovic, MD, PhD, is a Serbian consultant urologist, pediatric surgeon and microsurgeon. Dr. Kojovic completed both his pediatric surgical and urologic residency training at the Medical School, University of Belgrade. He was trained in the distinguished  Belgrade school for genital surgery and gender confirming surgery. Dr. Kojovic is the author and co-author of many papers and book chapters in field of genital reconstructive surgery. He received awards and recognitions for his work at prestigious international scientific meetings. As part of his humanitarian work, Dr. Kojovic has visited several African countries, performed various operations and held lectures at national hospitals and universities.

Dr. Vladimir Kojovic is currently an assistant professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade and he is a full-time surgeon at Institute for Mother and Child Health Care of Serbia.

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Associate Professor of Medical Law and Senior Lecturer in Family Law, Uppsala University, Faculty of Law (Sweden). Previously Visiting Professor at CUNY School of Law and Hofstra University School of Law (US).

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Jürg Streuli is a Member of the Transprofessional Team for Variations of Sex Characteristics, University Hospital of Zurich (since 2008), head of the Pediatric Palliative and Advanced Care Team at the Children’s Hospital of Easter Switzerland, and Senior Researcher and Research group leader for Pediatric Bioethics at the Institute of Biomedical Ethics at the University of Zurich. Dr. Streuli studied medicine (state examination 2005) and specialized in pediatric and adolescent medicine at the Triemli City Hospital (2006-2008) and at the University Children's Hospital Zurich (2012-2015). In 2014, he obtained his doctoral degree in biomedical ethics and law from the University of Zurich. In his research and clinical work, Dr. Streuli aims to assess, develop and support integrated and universal health care services that enables both local accessibility for support and management, and access to specialist services for the care of complex medical conditions.

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Lih-Mei Liao PhD is a consultant clinical psychologist in the United Kingdom and an author of numerous works on the psychosocial aspects of reproductive and genital interventions. In the late 1990s, alongside medical experts, she co-developed a multi-disciplinary service for people impacted by biological sex variaitions. She retired from this service in 2020 to complete her book Variations in Sex Development: Medicine, Culture and Psychological Practice, due to be published by Cambridge University Press. This major work follows on from her co-edited anthology in 2020: Female Genital Cosmetic Surgery: Solution to What Problem? Lih-Mei currently works in London as an independent scholar and practitioner. She is a trustee of intersex peer support group Interconnected UK. Her past collaborations include the co-founding of a European professional network, re-launched in 2020 as Psychosocial Studies of Intersex International. She has served on the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Ethics Committee, the British Society for Paediatric & Adolescent Gynaecology committee and the Female Genital Mutilation National Clinical Group. Additionally, she was on the editorial boards of Psychology and Sexuality and British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. She is a recipient of an achievement award from the Gay & Lesbian Medical Association and a fellow of the British Psychological Society.

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