During this AGM 2020 two new Board members were elected. The elections took place as the terms of two board members had come to an end:  Aarne Kinnunen working at Department of Criminal Policy, Helsinki, appointed in Belfast 2014 for his second mandate and Roberto Moreno, who worked as the Head of Adults Justice Service at the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice of the Basque Government and now works for the Basque Ombudsman Office, appointed in Belfast 2014. 
After the organisation said farewell and thanked their dedicated work, we announced our two new Board Members: Maia Chochoua from Georgia, and  Petra Masopust Šachová from Prague. The EFRJ is very happy to welcome them on Board! We are also grateful for the candidature of Dobrinka Chankova, Henrik Elonheimo, Jorge Elías Ollero Peran, and Anna Matczak! Thanks for all members who participated in the election! 

On 24 June the European Commission adopted its first ever EU Strategy on Victims' Rights for 2020-2025. The strategy sets a number of actions for the next five years, focusing on two objectives: first, to empower victims to report crime, claim compensation and ultimately recover from consequences of crime; second, to work together with all relevant actors for victims' rights. 
The European Forum for Restorative Justice (EFRJ) contributed to the strategy by submitting its feedback on the potential of restorative justice in addressing victims’ rights. We highly welcome that restorative justice is mentioned in the strategy.

The busy society of the EFRJ Working Groups is expanding! Would you like to work on a particular application of restorative justice? We are excited to launch the call for 3 new working groups: a) Restorative Schools; b) Gender Based Violence and Restorative Justice; and c) Restorative Environmental Justice.  Read the call for details and apply by filling out the form on our site to join one of these teams. You can apply until 7 September! 

The other series of webinars the EFRJ is organising – in this case with the Criminal Justice Platform Europe (CJPE) – will be focused on responses to sexual violence. The main topics will be: Ethics in management and treatment of individuals sentenced for a sexual offence (7 July - EuroPris), Better understanding of sexual abuse to create effective policy and practice (8 July - CEP) and Restorative justice responses to sexual violence: how to enable safe and sensitive practice (9 July - EFRJ) The three webinars are free of charge, but registration is needed. Registrations will close after 250 participants are reached or 48 hours before the start of each webinar. Currently we have 230 registrations for the webinar organised by the EFRJ. So hurry up if you want to join that one!

We are very happy to announce that the Call for trainers has received many responses. We have received 66 applications and feedback to applicants is communicated this week. 
The Register will allow the EFRJ to better connect arising training and consultancy needs with high quality training providers of the field. Registered trainers may be commissioned by the EFRJ to deliver training courses throughout Europe based on their area of expertise, availability and interest. The EFRJ is currently developing a range of restorative justice courses and aims to offer regular training opportunities in the near future (with the first course(s) organised already in 2020). 

The EFRJ collaborates with the organisers of "RJ World eConference", an online event bringing together restorative experts from across world (22-31 August 2020). Our speakers (including contributions by Gema Varona, Fania Davis, Ivo Aertsen, Brunilda Pali, Tim Chapman among others) will contribute to the abundant offer of the programme. During two weeks, attendees will be able to watch the recorded presentations of the speakers whenever it suits them, and they can communicate with the presenters, or participate in live discussions. Ticket sale starts on 1 July, and full price is 50 Australian Dollars (with concession 15$). With 25% of the ticket price bought via our event page, you support the EFRJ. 

To celebrate our 20th anniversary, on 1-5 December 2020, the European Forum for Restorative Justice (EFRJ) organises the REstART Festival bringing together arts, research and practice with the aim of offering a forum to discuss justice, solidarity and repair in today’s societies. The programme will include online sessions as well as live events (depending on the Covid-19 situation) in the home city of the EFRJ, Leuven - Belgium. The Festival is free of charge; registrations will open in autumn. 

On the occasion of the EFRJ 20th anniversary we launched two new calls to ask our member’s collaboration. We discovered from your messages that there are many people who wanted contribute to the Call for Contributions for the Jubilee Magazine (to be published at the end of this year to celebrate EFRJ’s anniversary) and to the Call for Stories and Testimonials (aiming to bring to light experiences that can raise awareness about restorative justice), but could not fit into the given time frame. Thus we extend the deadline for these calls, the for the Contributions to the Jubilee Magazine you may send your piece until 21 July, for the Call for Testimonials the new deadline is: 1 October.