Rémy Bonny

Born and raised in Belgium, Rémy Bonny is a human rights defender and expert in international relations. He serves as the executive director of Forbidden Colours – a Europe-wide non-profit delivering human rights and democracy for LGBTIQ+ people in Europe.

 

Bonny is an expert in how ultraconservative and anti-democratic regimes use their fight against human rights for LGBTIQ+ communities in their international relations. He exposed several anti-LGBTIQ+ initiatives by the Russian Federation, Hungary and other anti-democratic governments. In this capacity, he has given briefings on subversive activities, such as disinformation campaigns, and advised several national and supranational governments regarding Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) and human rights sanction regimes.

 

In 2019, Bonny exposed a coordinated international disinformation campaign led by the Russian Federation in cooperation with the government of Viktor Orbán, targeting LGBTIQ+ communities across Europe. At a time when these links were largely dismissed or ignored, he was among the first to document how anti-LGBTIQ+ narratives were being weaponized as part of a broader strategy of foreign interference and democratic destabilization. Subsequent political developments, including the Hungarian elections, have since brought global attention to the depth of these connections, confirming early warnings about the alignment between Orbán’s regime and Russian influence operations.

 

In 2023, Bonny led a campaign for Forbidden Colours that mobilized an unprecedented coalition of 16 EU Member States and the European Parliament to intervene in the court proceedings against Hungary’s anti-LGBTIQ+ “propaganda” law, making it the largest case in the history of the European Union. This effort culminated in a landmark judgment by the Court of Justice of the European Union in 2026, which for the first time found a violation of Article 2 TEU, the core values of the EU, as a stand-alone legal basis. The ruling is widely regarded as historic, setting a new constitutional standard for the protection of democracy and fundamental rights for over 450 million citizens and strengthening the EU’s ability to act against democratic backsliding. Earlier, in 2021, Bonny was the first international activist to expose this law, revealing it as a direct copy of Russia’s 2013 anti-LGBTIQ+ propaganda law.

 

Bonny’s work has been widely featured in international media, such as CNN, Time, Politico, The Guardian, Sky News, Le Monde, Libération, El Paìs. He has also been invited as a guest lecturer at many renowned institutions, such as Harvard University and HEC Paris.

 

Academically, he holds a bachelor and masters degree in Political Science from the Free University of Brussels (VUB), and a European Master in Human Rights & Democratisation from the Global Campus of Human Rights.

 

Fellowship Project: During his fellowship, Bonny examines how the European Union can reclaim its role as a credible global defender of democracy and human rights in an era of authoritarian resurgence. Through a book-length essay, the research argues that the EU’s normative power depends on its ability to consistently protect fundamental rights within its own borders. Using LGBTQI+ rights as a 'constitutional' stress test, the project examines how democratic backsliding, selective enforcement of EU law and the limits of a market-driven model of integration have weakened the Union’s legitimacy. Drawing on comparative analysis, case studies from countries such as Hungary, Poland, Georgia and Serbia, and direct policy experience, the project proposes reforms to strengthen democratic safeguards, rule-of-law enforcement and fundamental rights protection. It aims to advance a vision of an inclusive liberal democracy that reinforces both Europe’s internal cohesion and its global credibility.