Speakers

Prof Uzoma Maryrose Agwu

Uzoma Maryrose Agwu is a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu Alike Ikwo, Ebonyi State Nigeria. A practicing Obstetrician and Gynaecologist with the University’s Teaching Hospital. She is the Co founder of Forward Ahead Educational and Health Initiative, an initiative that seeks to eliminate illiteracy arising from unwanted teenage pregnancies in Southeast Nigeria especially among refugees . She is the Medical Director of Safewaymaria Specialist clinic, an evening clinic that cares for indigent women and teenage girls. She has presented papers under the auspice of Medical Women’s Association of Nigeria at several sessions at United Nations Commission for the status of women on Intimate partners violence, an area she has done lots of work. She established several well women centres in her country where issues pertaining to women are taken care of and hundreds been cared for at no cost. Prof Agwu is a National from Nigeria and a Fellow of the West African College of Surgeons and International college of Surgeons. She is an advocate for women’s health and presently working with Ebonyi state Government as the Executive Secretary/Chief Executive officer of Ebonyi state Health Insurance Agency.

www.uzagwu.org

Ghida Anani

Ghida Anani is the Founder & Director of ABAAD – Resource Centre for Gender Equality, a leading CSO in the region advocating for gender equality, women’s rights and the political participation of women. She has led a number of public opinion campaigns, notably the #Undress522 which resulted in a historical parliamentary vote, repealing Article 522 – the infamous ‘’rape-marriage’’ law – from the Lebanese Penal Code. In 2019, the campaign received the first prize “UN SDG Action Award” for the most impactful campaign globally.
As an expert in Gender-Based Violence and Child Protection, Anani has published a number of studies, articles, training kits and community educational materials on GBV & Child Sexual Abuse in Lebanon and the MENA region. She has also dedicated some of her time teaching at the Faculty of Public Health at the Lebanese University.@GhidaAnani
Anani has been honoured by the World Bank as one of the ten “Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs Making a Difference across MENA” and selected by the UN Solutions Summit as one of the 10 extraordinary solution makers across the globe advancing the SDGs.

Dr. Anna Alvazzi del Frate

Anna Alvazzi del Frate is an independent expert, now Chair of the Alliance of NGOs on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Vienna. Between 2016 and 2019 she was the Director of Programmes of the Small Arms Survey in Geneva. She previously worked for UNODC and the UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute. Her career has focused on applied research for evidence-based policymaking through quantitative and qualitative studies on violence – in particular, violence related to firearms – and its prevention, monitoring, and evaluation, with particular attention to gender-related aspects.

Alessandra Aresu, Ph.D.

Dr. Aresu is a gender, sexuality and disability specialist. She currently works at Humanity & Inclusion (HI – formerly Handicap International) as Inclusive Health Policy Lead. Before taking on this global position, Dr. Aresu worked as Country Director of the HI China Program (2013 to 2017). From this position, she led HI’s action at the country level which included the design and implementation of disability inclusive pilot projects on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and Gender Based Violence (GBV). Prior to 2013, Dr. Aresu worked as post-doctoral research fellow and advisor on SRHR, GBV and comprehensive sexuality education for INGOs and academic institutions in Italy, Haiti, China and the UK. She is the author of several articles and book chapters on these topics. Dr. Aresu also serves as co-chair of the Inclusive Health Technical Advisory Group at CORE Group, and of the Inclusive Health Task Group at the International Disability and Development Consortium (IDDC).

Ashri Anurudran

Working Group
Ashri Anurudran graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard College in 2019 with a concentration in Economics and a secondary focus in Global Health and Human Rights. She received her MPhil in Public Health from the University of Cambridge in 2020. Growing up in London, Kuala Lumpur and Houston, Ashri has witnessed the prevalence of sexual violence within vastly different societies. She hopes to introduce preventative norms early enough to create a generation of powerful, confident and informed citizens with the tools to fight sexual violence. In the past, Ashri has founded and taught two school-based educational intervention programs for 12-14-year-olds that aim to change norms surrounding sexual violence in India and Kenya. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she spearheaded the COVID-19 Task Force on Domestic Violence to investigate, educate, and advocate on behalf of survivors.
http://sici.hks.harvard.edu/people/ashri-anurudran/

Shams Asadi

In 2014, the Vienna City Council adopted the declaration “Vienna-City of human Rights”. The opening of the Human Rights Office in 2015 was a clear signal of Vienna’s commitment to human rights. Shams Asadi is the head of this office. She is also a member of the Advisory Council of Austrian Ombudsman Board (AOB), which is responsible for protecting and promoting human rights in the Republic of Austria since July 2012. Shams Asadi has many years of practical and academic experience in Urban Regeneration and Urban Development with a focus on inclusion, fair planning and European and international affairs. She studied architecture and urban planning and holds a Masters’ degree from the Vienna University of Technology. The human rights accompanied her from beginning of her professional life and since 2010 human rights are the main subject of her career.
www.menschenrechtsstadt.at

Liat Ayalon, Ph.D.

Liat Ayalon, PhD, is a researcher in the School of Social Work, at Bar Ilan University, Israel. Prof. Ayalon coordinates an international EU funded Ph.D. program on the topic of ageism (EuroAgeism.eu). She is also the Israeli PI of the EU funded MascAge program to study ageing masculinities in literature and cinema. For the past four years, Prof. Ayalon has led an international research network on the topic of ageism, funded through COST (Cooperation in Science and Technology; COST IS1402, notoageism.com). She consults both national and international organizations concerning the development and evaluation of programs and services for older adults.

Koumba Boly Barry

Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Dr. Koumbou Boly Barry, from Burkina Faso , took office on 1st August 2016 following her appointment at the 32nd session of the Human Rights Council.
Dr. Boly Barry holds a PhD in Economic History from Cheikh Anta Diop University in Senegal. She is the former Minister of Education and Literacy of Burkina Faso and has consulted widely for various governments and international institutions on the right to education. Dr. Boly Barry has been an advocate on gender issues in education. She also has ample knowledge and experience in training and research, as a visiting professor at University of Nottingham, United Kingdom, University of Louvain La Neuve Belgium, and as a lecturer at Ouagadougou University ,Burkina Faso ,Vitoria University, Brazil and Fribourg University, Switzerland. She replaces Mr. Kishore Singh from India.

Yael Bendel

Yael Bendel is a lawyer, specialized in child protection policies. She has a Master´s Degree in Children and Adolescents Law from Universidad de Granada, Spain. She is currently the Head of the Tutelary Public Ministry of the Judicial Branch of the City of Buenos Aires. Previously she was National Secretary of Childhood, Adolescence and Family of Argentina, President of the Federal Council of Childhood, Adolescence and Family and President of the Council for Children and Adolescents of Buenos Aires City Government.  She was recently appointed as Secretary for the Latin American Jewish Congress. 

Lopa Banerjee

Lopa Banerjee is the Director of the Civil Society Division at UN Women. She leads UN-Women’s strategic engagement and partnership development with civil society organizations to influence global action on gender equality, in particular related to standard setting, policy discussion and stakeholder accountability.
Lopa is also the Executive Coordinator of the Generation Equality Forum at UN Women, the global, multi-stakeholder partnership initiative launched to accelerate the achievement of gender equality commitments, on the occasion of the twenty fifth anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action for gender equality.
Lopa has worked for well over 3 decades across Asia, Africa and the USA, on international development, advocacy and communication and partnership building. She has one daughter and lives in New York City.

Peter Campbell

Peter Campbell is an Australian singer/songwriter, graphic designer, glass artist and photographer.
For over 50 years his music has explored the deep matters of the human heart in a challenging world, the profound impact of increasing social dislocation, and the impact of a warming planet on the finely balanced and globally intertwined natural environments that sustain all life. Peter Campbell’s songs are the bitter-sweet, even haunting, musings of a man who intuitively grasps something of the mysteries of faith and life, and of the confluence of the two, and who is able to capture those intuitions with permanent freshness in his lyrics. Peter has the thrilling knack of empathy that enables him to move inside people’s states of mind so that he is not singing about them, but about himself as one of them – singing on behalf of them’. Owen Salter, On Being Magazine. With three albums to his credit, Peter’s songs have touched many hearts. The second, ‘Across the Border’, was produced by Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul & Mary fame in the US. PP&M covered his song ‘Wild Places’ on their album ‘Such is Love’. Peter and his wife Jan live in Australia’s beautiful Southern Highlands.

www.petercampbell.com.au

Dr. Yael Danieli

Dr Yael Danieli, a clinical psychologist, victimologist, pioneer traumatologist: www.dryaeldanieli.com most recently founded the International Center for the Study, Treatment and Prevention of Multigenerational Legacies of Trauma: www.icmglt.org As Director of the Group Project for Holocaust Survivors and their Children, she has conducted extensive psychotherapeutic work with survivors and offspring on individual, family, group and community bases; studied in depth post-war responses and attitudes toward them, and the impact these and the Holocaust had on their lives. Published, awarded worldwide, on life-long and multigenerational post-trauma adaptation, optimal care and training for working with this and other massively traumatized victim/survivor populations, and on reparative justice. The Danieli Inventory for Multigenerational Legacies of Trauma allows scientifically valid assessment and comparative international study. Emerita Distinguished Professor of International Psychology at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, built the first PhD program in international psychology. Dr Danieli participated in creating all international instruments on behalf on victims’ rights and optimal care and served as consultant/expert to the ICTY, ICTR and the ICC on victims and staff care. Consultant to South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Rwanda’s government on reparations for victims, she worked in, inter alia, Northern Ireland and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2008 she was appointed Advisor on Victims of Terrorism for the office of the UN Secretary-General.

Nafissatou Jocelyne Diop

Nafissatou Jocelyne Diop is the Chief of the Gender and Human Rights Branch at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). In her role, she is promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women’s and adolescent girls within UNFPA strategic plan to achieve three transformative goals: ending preventable maternal deaths; addressing the unmet need for family planning; and ending gender based violence and harmful practices. Nafissatou lead programs to change entrenched social norms on harmful practices. She brings more than 20 years of rewarding experience advocating for sexual and reproductive health, human rights and gender equality. Before joining UNFPA, Dr Diop was working for the Population Council conducting several operation research to test and evaluate programs addressing sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights. Dr Diop has directed and managed initiatives to improve community access to quality reproductive health, including Family Planning, Youth, Post Abortion Care, FGM and HIV/AIDS services in West Africa. Dr Diop, a Senegal national, has a Ph.D in demography from the University of Montreal, a Master in socioeconomics of development from the Hautes Ecoles en Sciences Sociales in Paris, and a master’s in sociology from the University of Nanterre, Paris, France.

Chief Kikelomo (Kiki) Laniyonu Edwards

Chief Kikelomo (Kiki) Laniyonu Edwards is the founder and CEO of Dementia Care Society of Nigeria (DCSoN); the founder and Director of Rossetti Care Ltd, Nigeria; and has also established Dementia Friends Nigeria an Alzheimer’s Society initiative, and DementiaNigeria.com to raise awareness, educate and support families of Nigerians living with dementia. Kiki Edwards has developed a network of Purple Angels and Dementia Champions to raise dementia awareness across Nigeria. She launched Purple Angel Dementia Awareness Nigeria in 2014 and Dementia Friends Nigeria in 2016. She has also educated communities on issues related to dementia; invited community members to participate in support groups, memory cafes, memory clinics, open days, and conferences.

Esuna Dugarova

Esuna Dugarova has over 10 years of experience in policy analysis and research on gender equality, social protection and poverty reduction globally and particularly in Asia and Eastern Europe. She has authored over 30 publications in international peer-reviewed journals and books. Prior to UNDP, Esuna worked at UNRISD, World Bank, European Commission and London School of Economics. She holds a PhD in Asian Studies from Cambridge University and speaks 7 languages. Originally, Esuna is from Buryatia, a region of indigenous people of the Mongolian origin in Siberia and home to the world’s largest freshwater Lake Baikal.

Marina Fadeeva

Psychologist, trained in Existential Analysis, and human rights activist.
Work as psychologist LGBT-group “Stimul”, providing consultations for LGBTQ+ people in in Moscow and Moscow region (Russia).

Dr Lesley Ann Foster

I am the ED of Masimanyane Womens Rights International based in South Africa. I am the chair of the Board of International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific. My expertise is in working on violence against women and girls. I was recently appointed to the South African President’s Interim Committee on Gender Based Violence and Femicide.

Dr. Claudia Garcia-Moreno

Dr. Garcia-Moreno currently heads the unit on Addressing vulnerable populations in the Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research of the World Health Organization. She has over 30 years’ experience in public health and global health policy, with a focus on women’s health, sexual and reproductive health and HIV/AIDS. Under her leadership WHO has produced numerous guidelines and tools on integrating gender equality and human rights in health, strengthening prevention and the health response to violence against women and the Global plan of action to strengthen the role of the health sector in addressing violence, in particular against women and girls and against children endorsed by the World Health Assembly in 2016. Her team also does research and provides support to countries to address violence against women. She is involved in initiatives on violence, is the founder of the Sexual Violence Research Initiative and Chair of ‘What Works to prevent violence against women and girls?’. She is a physician from Mexico with an MSc in Community Medicine from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).

The Honorable Dennitah Ghati

Hon. Ghati is a Member of Parliament from Kenya and has served as the first woman representative for Migori County since 2013. She studied social work at Columbia University and after graduating in 2004, returned to Kenya and founded an NGO that helps victims of domestic and gender-based violence. Having worked as an advocate in civil society organizations, she continues to fight for the rights of women and persons with disabilities in her country.

Marcella Goheen

Marcella Goheen is a writer, solo theatre artist, producer and project manager. Ms. Goheen has spent the last 18 years working with tap legend Savion Glover as a writer, project manager, production manager, and tour manager through her boutique company Pure Projects, Inc. Tour management includes IF TRANE WUZ HERE, Classical Savion, Holiday Spectacular, StepZ, All Funkd’ Up, Savion Glover Featuring Marcus Gilmore, OM, and Sole Sanctuary. She was also rehearsal associate for Mr. Glover during creation of the acclaimed Broadway show “Shuffle Along”. Marcella has produced over 40 events in New York City (too many to name) for institutions such as NYU, Mount Sinai, The Public Theatre, Tribeca Film Festival, Montblanc North America and others. She has also worked with jazz luminaries such as Michelle Coltrane, Grammy Award Winning Marcus Gilmore, and Brandee Younger. Her most favorite thing is the creation of her Off-Broadway production of The Maria Project, which served families of domestic violence victims in New York City in partnership with the New York Justice Centers, and several city agencies such as Barrier Free Living, Center Against Domestic Violence and Sanctuary for Families. The Office of the Mayor (Bloomberg) proclaimed October 13, 2013, The Maria Project Day. Currently, Ms. Goheen is a committed caregiver for her beloved Bob, and a patient and caregiver advocate for long-term care during this very difficult time in history (www.essentialcarevisitor.com). Marcella is grateful to her Mom and Dad who taught her three things to practice all day long: say thank you upon awakening, help others all day long and be true to your word. Her other favorite thing is a New York bagel, Doritos, Corn Chips and coffee from a New York bodega in Washington Heights. She is supposed to be eating gluten-free.

Moe (MOHAMAD) Hamandi

Moe Hamandi is the first Lebanese member of Montreal Pride Board and Governor at Fondation Émergence. He holds a master’s degree in economics from the Montreal University. His research focuses on the links between economics, development, socio-cultural identities, and religious beliefs. Activist of LGBTQI2S+ rights, he is recognized for his implication in the business world as well in the community Creators of several radio programs and podcasts on social medias, he officially launched the first LGBTQI2S+ chronicle addressing the issues of racialized people in Quebec during the pandemic. Moe is the author of several articles that addresses the importance of Pride, Coming Out, Motivation and Positivism. Initiator of the first Lebanese Canadian LGBTQI2S+ Panel in 2019, Moe is a creator of bridges between the different Lebanese, Middle Eastern and Canadian LGBTQI2S+ communities. His last trip to Lebanon after the explosion enabled him to understand the domestic violence that communities face every day. In addition, he works in business development, guest experience, and arts.

Dr. Lilla Hárdi

A medical doctor since 1981, psychiatrist, IPA member psychoanalyst and rehabilitation psychiatrist; chair and board member of the section of the World Psychiatric Association Section on Psychological Consequences of Torture and Persecution since 2008. I was the Ex-Com member of the International Rehabilitation Council of Torture Victims (IRCT) between 2010-2013, later a Council member; member of the IFEG (International Forensic Expert Group) of IRCT since 2010 publishing scientific statements against torture; and Chief Guest Editor of Newspaper Torture between 2015 and 2016. Awarded the Inge Genefke prize (for the rehabilitation of torture victims) in 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark, I am also one of the founders of the ”Psychotrauma and migration section” in the Hungarian Association of Psychiatrists since 2018 and guest lecturer at the Pécs Medical University since 2019. I have been working as the medical director of Cordelia Foundation for the Rehabilitation of Torture Victims since 1996 Budapest, Hungary. I have personally examined survivors of torture, written reports, and treated and/or supervised their treatment.

Dr. Judith Herman

Judith Lewis Herman M.D. is Professor of Psychiatry (part time) at Harvard Medical School. For thirty years, until she retired, she was Director of Training at the Victims of Violence Program at The Cambridge Hospital, Cambridge, MA. Dr. Herman received her medical degree at Harvard Medical School and her training in general and community psychiatry at Boston University Medical Center. She is the author of two award-winning books: Father-Daughter Incest (Harvard University Press, 1981), and Trauma and Recovery (Basic Books, 1992). She has lectured widely on the subject of sexual and domestic violence. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 1996 Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies and the 2000 Woman in Science Award from the American Medical Women’s Association. In 2007 she was named a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.

Dr. Christine Jack

Christine (Trimingham) Jack spent thirty five years lecturing and researching in the field of teacher education. She was Head of Primary Education at the University of Canberra and is currently attached to Charles Sturt University, Australia. She has been an advisor to government agencies on teacher education, a consultant to non-government organisations working with people with disability, conducted workshops for university academics on writing for publication, and taught communication skills to tertiary students, practising teachers and those working in the corporate world.
She is an educational historian with a reputation for offering new ways of researching. She is the author of Growing Good Catholic Girls: Education and Convent Life in Australia (MUP 2003) which explored the impact of gender, class and religion on the consciousness of students and teachers in a school setting. Her recent work is on boarding school trauma. She has written the first theorised account of a young girl being sent to board and the impact of that experience across adulthood: Recovering Boarding School Trauma Narratives: Christopher Robin Milne as a psychological companion on the journey to healing (Routledge 2020). She is currently working to establish support networks for boarding school survivors in Australia.

Miwa Kato

Miwa Kato currently serves as Director, Division for Operations at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna. She oversees field-based technical assistance carried out by 1,800 personnel working across the globe, supporting the Member States and actors deal with the challenges of rule of law, criminality and justice. Miwa is also focused on strategically adapting UNODC’s field work to a more holistic, integrated and impact-oriented delivery of the UN. Prior to this, she served as Regional Director for Asia Pacific of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN WOMEN) in Bangkok, preceded by an assignment as Country Director for Egypt. She served with UNODC from 2003 to 2015, in several positions in the Regional Section for South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific in HQ and in Kabul. Before joining the United Nations, she served with the Japanese foreign service in New York and Vienna, as well as with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague. She holds a Master’s and a Bachelor’s degree in International Politics from Sophia University in Tokyo and has earned a Ph.D. in Political Sciences from the University of Vienna.

André Laperrière

MA, MBA, Board Member, Executive Director Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN), First Executive Director of the Trust Fund For Victims, Oxford, Oxfordshire United Kingdom.

Minou Tavarez Mirabal

Minou Tavarez Mirabal Former Presidential Candidate; former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, former parliamentarian and former President, Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) (Dominican Republic).

Ms. Tavarez is a human rights activist and politician from the Dominican Republic who was Vice-chancellor from 1996 to 2000 and subsequently served as a Member of Parliament and Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Chamber of Deputies. As Former President of Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA), she has recently been elected as Board Member of the Trust Fund for Victims at the International Criminal Court.

Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid

Dr. M’jid, a medical doctor in paediatrics, has over the last three decades devoted her life to the promotion and protection of children’s rights. She was Head of the Paediatric Department and Director of the Hay Hassani Mother-Child hospital in Casablanca.
Dr. M’jid was a member of the Moroccan National Council on Human Rights and founder of the non-governmental organisation Bayti, the first programme addressing the situation of children living and working in the streets of Morocco.
From 2008 to 2014, she served as United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography. Dr. M’jid also worked as an Expert-Consultant for national and international projects, strategies and policies relating to child rights’ promotion and protection. She has vast experience in the development of national policies on the protection of the child, and has worked with several governments, non-governmental and inter-governmental organisations.
Dr. M’jid holds a Doctorate in general medicine from the University of Rabat, a specialization in paediatrics and neonatology from the University of Bordeaux II and a Master of Human Rights from the Human Rights Institute, Geneva.

https://violenceagainstchildren.un.org

Edward Mortimer

Edward was a journalist on The Times (1967-85) and the Financial Times (1987-98). He served as Chief Speechwriter and Director of Communications to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan (1998-2006), and as Chief Programme Officer of the Salzburg Global Seminar (2007-2011). He is now a Distinguished Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. His writings include Faith and Power: the Politics of Islam (1982), The Rise of the French Communist Party (1984), The World That FDR Built (1989) and (with Timothy Garton Ash and Kerem Öktem) Freedom in Diversity (2013). He also co-edited Euro-Communism, Myth or Reality? (1979) and People, Nation & State: the Meaning of Ethnicity & Nationalism (1999).

Leslye Orloff

Leslye Orloff is Adjunct Professor and Director of the National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project (NIWAP) American University Washington College of Law which provides national technical assistance and training on legal protections for immigrant victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, and human trafficking. Ms. Orloff’s 38-year career includes leading drafting and implementation of VAWA self-petitioning, U/T visa immigration relief, public benefits access, legal services and family law protections for immigrant victims of domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault, stalking and human trafficking. NIWAP provides national technical assistance, training and bench-books and law and social science journal articles for judges, attorneys, law enforcement, and prosecutors on legal rights and service available to help immigrant victims and children.

Access Professor Orloff’s Summit Resources

Hon. Kasthuri Patto

Hon. Patto is a Malaysian MP from the Democratic Action Party, representing the Batu Kawan Constituency in Penang since 2013. She is also a board member of Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA). Microbiologist by profession, Hon. Patto avidly advocates for women’s rights, especially the impact of small and light weapons on women and children as well as the need to end early, child and forced marriage, among other important causes.

Casey Pick

Casey Pick is the Senior Fellow for Advocacy and Government Affairs for The Trevor Project, the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ young people. She works to advance state and federal policies that support LGBTQ youth in crisis, educating policymakers and the public about LGBTQ youth/mental health issues. She also writes and coordinates amicus briefs, collaborates with state and local advocates, and testifies in support of legislation to protect LGBTQ youth.
Casey’s work has been featured in The Advocate, US News & World Report, The New York Times, NPR, and MSNBC. Casey holds a bachelor’s degree in Government from Claremont McKenna College and a juris doctorate from the UCLA School of Law, and in 2019 was named one of the National LGBTQ Bar Association’s “40 Best LGBTQ Lawyers Under 40.”

Prof. Gerard Quinn

Prof. Gerard Quinn was appointed the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by the Human Rights Council in October 2020.
He holds two research chairs at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute on Human Rights in the University of Lund (Sweden) and Leeds University (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland). He previously held a chair at the National University of Ireland where he founded and directed the Centre on Disability Law & Policy. In Ireland, he served as a member of the Irish Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities, Ireland Human Rights Commission, and on the Council of State.
Mr. Quinn was the lead ‘focal point’ for the global network of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) during the negotiations leading to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and was head of delegation for Rehabilitation International during the UN Working Group (2004).
For more information visit https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Disability/SRDisabilities/Pages/SRDisabilitiesIndex.aspx

Balakrishnan Rajagopal

Mr. Balakrishnan Rajagopal is the UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context. Rajagopal took up his mandate in May 2020. He is a Professor of Law and Development at the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). A lawyer by training, Rajagopal is an expert on many areas of human rights, including economic, social and cultural rights, the UN system, and the human rights challenges posed by development activities. His first report to the UN General Assembly (UN Doc. A/75/148) focused on the impacts of COVID-19 on the right to adequate housing and the way forward.

Sanjana Rane

Sanjana helps lead the COVID-19 Taskforce on Domestic Violence, which is a diverse group consisting of over 80 students and recent graduates passionate about preventing this crisis at all costs. The Taskforce works with leading experts across a range of fields, from Medicine to Criminology, to promote an interdisciplinary approach to addressing domestic violence and home safety during COVID-19. Sanjana recently graduated from Harvard College with a degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology and Global Health and Health Policy and is now a first-year medical student at Harvard Medical School.

Nazeeha Saeed

Bahraini journalist with more than 20 years experience in print, TV and radio media outlets. MENA coordinator in OutRight Action international. Safety and diversity trainer.

Riitta Särkelä

Riitta Särkelä, Ph.D., Secretary general, Federation of Mother and Child Homes and Shelters, Earlier vice president of European Antipoverty Network. Member of Zonta International e-club Finland.

Rabbi Arthur Schneier

Senior Rabbi, Park East Synagogue
Founder and President, Appeal of Conscience Foundation

Rabbi Arthur Schneier has been a Senior Rabbi at Park East Synagogue since 1962 and Founder and President of Appeal of Conscience Foundation since 1965. He is the recipient of the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Clinton for “his service as an international envoy for four administrations and as a Holocaust survivor, devoting a lifetime to overcoming forces of hatred and intolerance” for “…his ecumenical work in favor of mutual understanding, tolerance and peace.” Pope Francis conferred him the rare Papal Knighthood of St. Sylvester for “his unceasing work to promote peace and mutual understanding.” On his 90^th Birthday world political and religious leaders hailed him for his lifetime leadership in human rights and interreligious dialogue. Honored by UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres and United Nations Alliance of Civilizations in which he is a Founder and Ambassador “For decades promoting inter-faith understanding and peaceful coexistence.” U.S. Alternate Representative to the U.N. General Assembly and Chairman, U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad. Born in Vienna, Austria, married to Elisabeth Nordmann Schneier.

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The Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC

Patricia Scotland was born in the Commonwealth of Dominica. She is the tenth of twelve children and grew up in London. She completed her LLB (Hons) London University at the age of twenty and was called to the Bar at Middle Temple at the age of twenty-one. Her career has been marked by achieving a number of extraordinary firsts, not least of which was to be the first woman in the more than 700-year history of the office to serve as Her Majesty’s Attorney-General for England and Wales and for Northern Ireland. While holding these and other senior ministerial office she was given responsibility, inter alia, for gender equality, domestic violence, forced marriage, and international child abduction, and from these positions promoted diversity and equality of opportunity, particularly for women and girls. As the only woman to have been appointed Secretary-General of Commonwealth she is placing special emphasis on mobilising the 54 nations of the Commonwealth to tackle climate change – including its disproportionate impact on women – and, through women’s enterprise, to build the resilience of smaller or more vulnerable countries. Eliminating domestic violence and violence against women and girls is another area of focus.

Tamar Shwartz

In the early stage of her professional career, Tamar served a social worker in hostels for people with disabilities. Later on, following a professional turn, Tamar served for 10 years as an Organizational Consultant and HR Officer in the IDF’s leadership development school. When she completed her time at the Army, Tamar was appointed CEO of Mesila, Tel Aviv’s Special Unit for Refugees and Migrant Workers. Tamar served as CEO for eight years, during which she worked to change perceptions regarding the Refugees and Migrant Workers community, while implementing new procedures on local and national levels to benefit the community and award them with better services. Over the years, Tamar has won several prestigious awards for her unique work – IDF’s Education Corp Award, Joint-Ashalim Award, Keren Shalem Award and the Presidential Award for human trafficking fighters. Following her time in Mesila, Tamar was a fellow in the Mandel Leadership Institute where she developed a unique intervention model of Boarding School Rehabilitation for Parents and Children. Tamar holds a BA in Social Work from Ben Gurion University and a MA in Interdisciplinary Art Therapy with specialty in Holistic Health from Leslie College (graduated Magna Cum Laude).

Fred Sullivan

Fred Sullivan is a co-founder of the Man Up Campaign. He became the Executive Director in 2015. With a mission to engage youth in ending gender-based violence. A 30-year member of SGI-USA., and on the board of AISP. He consults on social and entrepreneurial ventures with Venture Acceleration.
As an active mentor of youth locally and around and parent of a daughter, he is always learning and growing himself and feels that is a critical insight to bring into developing strategy and policy for the Man Up Campaign. He believes that engaging youth leadership in gender-equality a developing healthy masculinities and femininities as a basis for ending gender-based violence will be the most important factor in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals which most of the nation of the world are striving to realize by 2030. Man Up Campaign’s network of youth leaders and organizations are working internationally to develop communities and cultures of peace. He is personally engaged in his own lifelong mission using Gender SMART (Sports, Music, Art, Reflection, and Technology) as a life-long champion’s journey to create equality, inclusiveness, and opportunity as a means of ending gender-based violence.

Ekaterina Svetashkova

Monitoring coordinator, LGBT Group Stimul.

Minou Tavarez Mirabal

Ms. Tavarez is a human rights activist and politician from the Dominican Republic who was Vice-chancellor from 1996 to 2000 and subsequently served as a Member of Parliament and Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Chamber of Deputies. As Former President of Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA), she has recently been elected as Board Member of the Trust Fund for Victims at the International Criminal Court.

Richard Towle

Richard Towle is the Deputy Director of UNHCR New York Office, having previously served as the UNHCR Representative in Malaysia and Regional Representative for Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific. He is a New Zealander who joined UNHCR in Hong Kong in the early 1990s, working in a variety of capacities dealing with the Vietnamese boat people, then moved to the London office of UNHCR. He has since held various senior legal and policy roles, including in the Department of International Protection at UNHCR headquarters in Geneva and has been involved in the UNHCR development of polities and operations relating to human rights, internally displaced persons, and asylum-migration issues.
His other UN experience includes a role as Chief of Mission for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Belgrade, former Yugoslavia, from 2001-2003. Towle was also a Member of the New Zealand Refugee Status Appeal Authority during a temporary absence from UNHCR from 2005 – 2006. Prior to joining the UN, he was a Deputy Chair of the Hong Kong Refugee Status Review Board, after working as a partner in a New Zealand law firm specializing in refugee and human rights issues.

Kristen Timothy

Kristen Timothy made her career at the United Nations from 1970-1999.She served as Deputy Director of the UN Division for the Advancement of women from 1993-1999. In her capacity as UN Coordinator for the UN World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China in 1995 she promoted access by civil society to the official deliberations and the use of new technologies like the internet to enable women around the world to follow the conference “without leaving home”.Her career at the UN included work with the Commission for Social Development, the Commission on the Status of Women and the Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, as well as the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council. She has an MA in African Studies from Makerere University and an MA from the Kennedy School at Harvard

Dr. Liv Tørres

Liv Tørres is the director of the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies, hosted by the Center on International Cooperation at New York University. Ms. Tørres has worked on international humanitarian, peace, and development issues for three decades. Before joining the Pathfinders, she was the Executive Director of the Nobel Peace Center. Previously, she served as the Secretary General of Norwegian People’s Aid. She is an expert on labour, development and democratization issues. She has worked as a political advisor for Norway’s Minister of Labour and Social Inclusion, as the manager of the first National Labour Force Survey in South Africa, and has written on these issues for several publications. She was a member of the Norwegian Labour Party´s International Committee for nearly 10 years. Ms. Tørres holds a PhD in political science from the University of Oslo. Her academic background includes positions such as Senior Advisor at the Research Council of Norway, and Associate Professor at the University of Oslo. In the 1990s, she established and managed Fafo South Africa, an international policy research center. She also served as Research Director of the Institute for Applied Social Sciences, Fafo Norway. Since 2017, she has served as a visiting professor at Wits University in Johannesburg.

Cornelius Williams

Cornelius Williams is Associate Director and Global Chief of Child Protection for UNICEF’s Programme Division.

For over 30 years, Cornelius has managed child protection programmes with UNICEF and Save the Children. He has been involved in advocacy that led to improved protection of children from sexual exploitation and abuse in humanitarian settings, reduced recruitment and use of children by armed forces and increased access of children to identity documents/birth certificate and social assistance. Cornelius represents UNICEF on the Advisory Boards of the WePROTECT Global Alliance to End Child Sexual Exploitation Online, ID4Africa, CPC Learning Network and Changing the Way We Care.

Mr. Williams is a national of Sierra Leone and holds a Masters from the University of East Anglia, UK.

Jessica Zimerman

Jessica Zimerman is a Project Specialist with UNDP’s Gender Team where she provides technical and operational guidance to the “Ending Gender-based Violence and Achieving the SDGs” global project (with pilot initiatives in Bhutan, Indonesia, Iraq, Lebanon, Moldova, Peru and Uganda).

Before joining UNDP HQ in 2017, she worked for UN entities and INGOs on gender transformative peacebuilding and violence prevention programming.