Ann-Marie Nyroos has pioneered in the fields of fighting against violence against women leading to the Istanbul Convention, and has insisted on giving a greater voice to Roma and Travellers. In addition, Ambassador Nyroos had an exceptional ability to rally broad support behind forward-looking initiatives, which kept the Council at the forefront of human rights development.
She was always a solid and firm supporter and defender of the European Court of Human Rights in cooperation with others. She also facilitated the newly established office of the Commissioner of Human Rights to emerge as an important part of the Council's human rights architecture. She was an active promoter of gender mainstreaming, including gender-budgeting, and showed leadership by providing strategic secondments to the Council of Europe secretariat. In addition, she played a central role in negotiating the EU – Council of Europe Memorandum of Understanding during the Finnish EU presidency in 2006, that is valid to this day. With a Finnish twist, she was occasionally happy to ignore too rigid hierarchies or protocols, and also entrusted responsibility to younger colleagues in bold and innovative ways. It is noteworthy that Nyroos continued – vividly and courageously – to carry forward the values of human rights, Rule of Law and democracy in subsequent ambassadorial posts in different corners of Europe throughout her career, including as adviser to the president of the Republic of Finland, and far beyond.
The project “75 women in 75 years of Council of Europe history” is organised by the Delegation of the European Union to the Council of Europe with the Council of Europe and the Permanent Representations of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
