On its meeting of 14 and 15 December 2023, the FRA Management Board appointed Ms Sirpa Rautio as the next FRA Director. Ms Sirpa Rautio has served many years in international and regional human rights organisations such as the UN, the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the EU working for human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Between the years 2017 and 2020, she also chaired FRA’s Management Board. At the time of her appointment, she held the position of Director of the Finnish Human Rights Centre and Chair of the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI).

Ms Rautio will take up her 5-year term in the forthcoming months. She succeeds Mr Michael O’Flaherty, who was appointed in September 2015, and whose term expired on 15 December 2023.