Our Rule of Law (ORoL) is a pan-European youth foundation working at the intersection of democracy, the rule of law, and civic engagement. We were built on a simple but firm conviction: young people are not merely the future of democracy, they are its present defenders.

Our mission is to educate, connect, and empower young Europeans to engage actively with the challenges facing democracy and the rule of law, and to contribute their knowledge and voices to the solutions.

Our Story

ORoL was founded in 2021 by three first-year law students at the University of Groningen: Elene Amiranashvili (Georgia/Netherlands), Zuzanna Uba (Poland), and Anna Walczak (Poland), under the mentorship of Professor John Morijn (Netherlands).

The spark came from a lecture by Professor Morijn on democratic backsliding in Poland. What struck the founders was not only the gravity of the crisis, but the sense that many of their peers felt disconnected from it, despite being the generation that would live with its consequences the longest. On a snowy February afternoon, they continued the conversation on a walk, and decided to do something about it. ORoL has been growing ever since.

What We Do

Over the years, ORoL has developed a range of programmes combining education, research, mentorship, and advocacy. Each one is designed to move young people from passive concern to active participation.

How Our Programmes Work

Every ORoL programme is built from scratch around the most pressing democratic challenges of the moment. Rather than repeating formats, we design each project to respond to what Europe needs now, and to maximise the agency and real-world impact of young people's participation.

Our methodology rests on a few core principles. First, mentorship: participants in our programmes work under the guidance of leading academics, legal professionals, and civil society experts, ensuring that young people's engagement is rigorous, informed, and credible. Second, a research-to-impact pipeline: we do not stop at awareness. Our projects move participants from studying a problem, to analysing it, to producing something concrete, whether that is a policy proposal, a monitoring report, a handbook, or a public advocacy initiative. Third, cross-border connection: our programmes bring together young people from across Europe and beyond, building a community of peers who share values, knowledge, and a commitment to democratic resilience.

The result is a model where young people are not passive audiences but active contributors, producing work that reaches policymakers, media, and civil society at the European level.

The Our Rule of Law Festival

Our first initiative brought the Polish rule of law crisis into direct dialogue with students. Over two days at the University of Groningen, participants heard from nine Polish rule of law defenders, including Judge Igor Tuleya and the founders of the Free Courts Initiative. For many, it was the first time abstract constitutional debates were connected to lived experience and tangible consequences for rights and access to justice. Participants also had the opportunity to sign a joint letter to Commissioner Věra Jourová urging the European Commission to act, and received an official reply.

The Law and Politics of Protecting Liberal Democracy

Our second programme broadened the lens from a single national crisis to the systemic challenges facing liberal democracy across Europe. Sessions explored why citizens support illiberal movements, why judicial solidarity across borders matters, and what role young people can play in protecting democratic institutions. Speakers included Kim Lane Scheppele, Laurent Pech, and Petra Bard.

The Our Rule of Law Academy

The Academy was an academic mentorship programme bringing together 45 bachelor students from across Europe and beyond, guided by 23 professionals in the field. Working in thematic groups, participants conducted research and developed concrete policy proposals on how the EU should better protect the rule of law, which they then pitched to policymakers during a bootcamp in Brussels. The result was the publication "How to Save European Democracy: Report from the Our Rule of Law Academy." The Academy was recognised as the national winner of the Charlemagne Youth Prize, awarded by the European Parliament and the Karlspreis Foundation (International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen).

The Vote4OurRuleofLaw Fellowship

Ahead of the 2024 European Parliament elections, ORoL launched a fellowship to engage young first-time voters. The cohort of 44 fellows, representing 15 nationalities and 19 universities across Europe, worked through a structured curriculum covering topics from the motivations behind youth voter turnout to the connection between national concerns and EU policy, to a practical look at how the European Parliament actually works. The Fellowship resulted in the publication of the "First-Time Voters Handbook," highlighted in Politico's Brussels Playbook newsletter.

The Our Democracy Report

Our most recent flagship project placed young people at the centre of democracy monitoring itself. Over 60 Democracy Rapporteurs from 17 countries assessed the strengths and weaknesses of their national democracies, combining rigorous methodology with on-the-ground lived experience. The Report attracted wide media attention, including an op-ed in EUobserver and coverage in Público, one of Portugal's largest newspapers. ORoL was subsequently invited by the European Commission to present the Report's findings and methodology to representatives of all 27 EU Member States and candidate countries at the Network of National Contact Points on the Rule of Law in Brussels, and engaged with experts at the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) at the opening of its Brussels office. The Our Democracy Report was recognised as the national winner of the Charlemagne Youth Prize in 2026.

Who Has Supported Us

ORoL's work has been made possible with the support of partners including the European Cultural Foundation, Mercator Stiftung, Humboldt University, Princeton University, the University of Groningen, Maastricht University Campus Brussels, the Meijers Committee, the Netherlands Helsinki Committee, the Dutch Permanent Representation to the EU, the Polish Embassy in Berlin, and student associations across Europe including ELSA, Nexus Groningen, SIB Groningen, and Amnesty International Groningen.