Open Doors International

EU Legislative Interests

ODI actively monitors implementation of the EU Guidelines on the Promotion and Protection of Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB), including developments such as the state of the appointment of the next Special Envoy for the promotion of FoRB outside the EU. In addition, ODI follows the implementation of the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders. ODI also tracks the EU's foreign policy on human rights, with a particular focus on the FoRB component. For example, ODI monitors of the European Parliament’s “Human Rights and Democracy in the world and the European Union’s policy on the matter – annual report.” Furthermore, ODI closely follows the policy of the European Institutions concerning Africa, Asia, and the Middle East through, for instance, the monitoring of EU initiatives such as the Pact for the Mediterranean or the upcoming Middle East Strategy. ODI also observes the development and implementation of the European Parliament urgency resolutions addressing human rights violations outside the EU, such as the “Urgent need to protect religious minorities in Syria following the recent terrorist attack on Mar Elias Church in Damascus” or the “Mass kidnapping of children in Nigeria, including from St Mary's Catholic school in Papiri”. ODI has contributed inputs to the EU Action Plan on Human Rights & Democracy 2020–2027 through the channels available to Civil Society Organizations (such as EEAS meetings with CSOs). It has also provided input to the European Parliament’s AFET Committee country reports (e.g., Report on the 2023 and 2024 Commission reports on Türkiye). In addition, ODI has participated in the EU open consultation with CSOs on the revision of the MFF, specifically regarding the human rights aspects of these discussions.

Communication Activities

Annually, ODI organizes at the EU Parliament a presentation of its research report titled World Watch List

Interests Represented

Does not represent commercial interests

Member Of

Open Doors International (ODI) is a global membership organisation with 25 national bases. Moreover, ODI Advocacy Department is one of the founding members of the European Platform on Religious Intolerance and Discrimination (EPRID) in Brussels.

Organisation Members

Please see Open Doors International affiliate bases on the following link: https://www.opendoors.org/en-US/ EPRID: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2014_2019/documents/droi/dv/605_eprid_introduction_/605_eprid_introduction_en.pdf

Additional Information

We are an operating charity that only accepts donations from private individuals. These are primarily small donations from across several countries. No contribution exceeded 10% of the total budget AND was above €10 000.