In 2004/2005, Dr Anna Rurka had the opportunity to meet the European Committee for home-based priority Action for the Children and Family (EUROCEF), an INGO with participatory status with the Council of Europe. She was then able to discover the role that civil society plays in the elaboration, implementation and evaluation of international standards in the field of human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
Dr Rurka soon became involved in this activity on behalf of Eurocef, taking part in the various intergovernmental committees responsible for drafting recommendations for the Committee of Ministers.
In 2015 she was elected President of the Conference of INGO and served two terms between 2015 and 2021, in parallel with her professional responsibilities, as the Senior Lecturer at Paris Nanterre University.
As President of the Conference of INGOs, her primary role was to organise and facilitate the participation and contribution that civil society can bring to the work of the Council of Europe's bodies. In order to be as close as possible to the concerns of civil society associations and organisations in the Member States, in consultation with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and with the Committee of Ministers' Deputies, she set up the country visits of the Conference of INGOs.
Her interest in the co-construction of public policies at supranational or national level is also reflected in her contribution at the national level as the qualified expert in two High Councils in the field of social work in France.
Anna Rurka was the President of the Conference of International NGOs of the Council of Europe from 2015 to 2021. She recalls that the Council of Europe has enabled NGOs to participate in intergovernmental decision-making processes. Moreover, she expresses the hope that the Council of Europe will continue to strengthen the dialogue with civil society.
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.
