PARTICIPANTS:
Bandana Rana – President
Saathi, Nepal
Bandana serves as president of Saathi, an NGO that has been working in the area of violence against women in Nepal since 1992 on advocacy, research, capacity building/awareness raising and victim/survivor support programs. During and after the conflict in Nepal, Saathi conducted nationwide orientation programs on SCR 1325 with various stakeholders such as government bodies, human rights organizations, women’s organizations, parliamentarians and the media. It also published pictorial booklets and media kits on SCR 1325. It has been lobbying with government for the development of a national action plan on 1325 and 1820 for Nepal.
Dewi Suralaga – Policy Adviser/Programme Officer
Cordaid, The Netherlands
As policy adviser/program officer with Cordaid’s ORDAID’s Women and Violence Program, Dewi focuses on trafficking, women in conflict Areas; and domestic violence; while concentrating advocacy around UNSCR 1325. Her program is active in Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Ghana, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Indonesia, Colombia and Guatemala.
Euphemia Akos Dzathor – Africa Regional Coordinator
IFOR/ Women Peacemakers ProgramAfrica Desk, Ghana
Akos is the Africa Regional Coordinator of IFOR Women Peacemakers Program (WPP) which his being hosted by the West Africa Network for Peace Building. The Africa Desk coordinates a network of African women peacemakers who are engaged in gender-sensitive non-violent initiatives and strives to increase the number of women involved in non-violent conflict resolution so as to eliminate gender disparity in peacebuilding initiatives. Prior to assuming this position, Akos was programs manager of an NGO that provides psychosocial support and other services to abused women and children in Ghana. She also coordinated a peace education program on the Liberia Refugee settlement in Ghana for two years.
Gladys G. Brima – National coordinator
Women’s Partnership for Justice and Peace (WPJP), Sierra Leone
As national coordinator for WPJP, Gladys focuses on working with local communities to design, execute, manage and evaluate participatory, community-based initiatives to advance the conditions of girls and young women in deprived situations in the southern region of Sierra Leone. WPJP activities have helped girls enroll and stay in school and supported young women (particularly those out of school) gain access to or create new educational, financial and social resources in their communities.
Isabelle Geuskens – Program Manager
Women’s Peacemakers Program, International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR), The Netherlands
Since 2002, Isabelle has been serving as the program manager of IFOR’s Women Peacemakers Program, which focuses on nonviolence education; networking and documentation of women’s experiences, successes, and obstacles in peacemaking; as well as placing gender on the agenda of peace movement. She has worked in conflict-affected countries and is involved in monitoring developments around SCR 1325 locally and regionally. She participates in the 1325 platform of WO=MEN, a Dutch coalition of organizations and individuals committed to promoting gender quality in international cooperation efforts, and served on their board until 2009.
Jeanne Bitsure
Women Peace Makers Program Femmes, (Artisanes de Paix au Burundi), Burundi
Jeanne works on achieving this network’s vision of enabling Burundian women to prosper and fully enjoy all civic human rights as well as protecting them from violence in all of its forms. This includes building and developing women’s capacities, advocacy, adoption and implementation of applying texts to national and international laws as well as the effective integration of women in sustainable development programs. The program also focuses on the promotion and protection of human rights in general, and women in particular; the political participation and leadership of women; the promotion and empowerment of women’s participation concerning family economy; and women’s contribution in the protection of the environment.
Jeanne Nzuzi Nsamba, President
Reseau Femme et Développement de Kinshasa, DRC
Jeanne Nzuzi is the president of the Network for Women and Development for Kinshasa and is a member of the National Committee for Women and Development (CONAFED). She has served as president for the NGO EUREKA. As part of CONAFED/REFED, she takes part in the dialogues on Resolution 1325 within the Congo. Jeanne works on gender sensitization within the framework of sexual violence and speaks about Resolution 1325 at the UN level and the process of its implementation within the the Democratic Republic of Congo. She has also worked on the implementation of the DRC’s recent law regarding sexual violence and women in conflict, and women within the realm of disarmament, demobilization and the reintegration of former combatants. She has also participated in a number of issues including microfinance, water and sanitation.
Kate McInturff – Coordinator
Gender and Peacebuilding Working Group (Groupe de travail sur l’égalité entre les sexes et la consolidation de la paix), Peacebuild, Canada
As coordinator of the Gender and Peacebuilding Working Group of Peacebuild, Kate works on promoting the development of Canadian policy and programming which supports the active participation of girls and women in peacebuilding, and ensures that the unique challenges faced by girls and women in conflict and post-conflict settings are addressed. Kate is also a member of the executive committee for the Women’s World Congress, an international meeting which will bring over 2000 feminist researchers and activists to Ottawa, Canada in 2011. In 2008 Kate served as the civil society representative on the Canadian Delegation to the 52nd Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Kate received her doctoral degree from the University of British Columbia in 2000. Before joining Peacebuild in 2007, she held positions at the American University in Cairo and the University of Ottawa. Her research, publications and teaching have focused on gender, conflict, and international development.
Lindora Howard-Diawara – Program Coordinator
Women in Peacebuilding Network (WIPNET), WANEP), Liberia
As program coordinator of WIPNET-Liberia, a network membership program for women peace makers/peacebuilders, Lindora focuses on increasing women’s participation and involvement in peace building through training, research, documentation, advocacy, and sensitization. WIPNET-Liberia, in partnership with many other organizations has served as a proponent of conflict resolution, peace building, advocacy and development.
Mavic Cabrera-Balleza – Senior Program Associate
International Women’s Tribune Centre, USA
Mavic coordinates the International Women’s Tribune Centre’s human security, human rights and peace building programme. She conducts workshops for and with national ministries on women, government agencies, parliamentarians, the security sector, women’s groups, media and academe towards the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR) 1325 and 1820 on Women, Peace and Security. She facilitates discussions on national action plans on UNSCR 1325. She produces local language radio programmes on Resolution 1325 in various countries in Africa and Asia that draw attention to sexual and gender-based violence in conflict and post-conflict situations and how this could be addressed using existing legal instruments. She’s also active in advocacy work to influence policies that concern women, media and the new ICTs.
Vicki J. Semler – Executive Director
International Women’s Tribune Centre, USA
Vicki is responsible for project design and organizational planning. With other IWTC staff, she collaborates in the design and development of IWTC training activities and publications. Her specific areas of interest and expertise are in participatory research and training, evaluation, organizational development and learning materials design, particularly as it relates to issues of technology transfer. Vicki’s prior work experience includes development of communication strategies, programs, and learning materials in the areas of feminist perspectives on family planning communications. Vicki’s field experience covers work in Latin America, Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, the Caribbean and the South Pacific. She holds a Master’s degree in Latin American Studies and a Ph.D. in Education (Instructional Systems Technology) from Indiana University, Bloomington, IN. USA.
RESOURCE PEOPLE:
Prof. George Andreopoulos is the Director of the Center for International Human Rights at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Professor of Political Science at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and at the Graduate Center, CUNY. Professor Andreopoulos studied history, law, and international relations at the Universities of Chicago and Cambridge. Before coming to CUNY, he taught for several years at Yale University, where he was the founding Associate Director of the Orville Schell Center for International Human Rights. He has written extensively on international security, international human rights, and international humanitarian law issues. His recent publications include Non-State Actors in the Human Rights Universe (with Zehra Arat and Peter Juviler). Over the years, he has participated in several human rights missions, most recently in Sierra Leone to study and prepare recommendations on accountability mechanisms in that country. Prof. Andreopoulos has served as a consultant with diverse UN agencies and with NGOs.
Maura M. Bairley is an anti-violence educator, activist and organizational
consultant. Maura is the former Director of the Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Program at Columbia University and has worked as a community organizer, trainer, facilitator, and advocate in the movements against violence against women and the LGBT community. As a doctoral student in Social-Organizational Psychology at Teacher’s College, her research interests include organizational development and leadership for social change.
Mendy Marsh recently joined UNICEF headquarters as a Gender-based Violence (GBV) Specialist. Mendy has extensive experience in GBV programme design, leadership, and guidance especially in the provision of country-level technical assistance on GBV prevention and response, data collection and in the facilitation of national and field-level GBV coordination structures. She has worked specifically on the issue of GBV in emergencies in countries such as Liberia, Kenya, Angola, Burundi, Chad, Ethiopia, Pakistan, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Health, as well as a Master of Science in Social Work, both from Columbia University.
Elien Migallen, a firm believer in education as a human right, volunteered as a Human Rights intern for Advocacy Lab during the 2008-2009 academic year. Migallen taught high school students at New Day Academy about human rights issues that affected youth. She holds a B.A. in political science and hopes to attend law school in the future. She is the recipient of a 2009 Pre-Law Institute scholarship, John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Marilou McPhedran is the Canadian human rights lawyer who received the Order of Canada for her work as pro bono counsel to the Ad Hoc Committee on Canadian Women on the Constitution as part of the largest social mobilisation in Canadian history for women’s rights, resulting in stronger constitutional equality rights. In 1997, Marilou founded the International Women’s Rights Project (now at the University of Victoria Centre for Global Studies in British Columbia, Canada) based on her “evidence-based advocacy” and “lived rights” models emphasizing academic/community partnerships, directed the First CEDAW Impact Study 2000, and she has collaborated in a number of other interdisciplinary participatory action research projects on women’s human rights and health. In 1991 and 2001 she chaired Canadian inquiries into sexual abuse of patients by health professionals resulting in legislative changes and her 1991 task force pioneered setting the standard of ‘zero tolerance’ for sexual exploitation by those in positions of power and trust, now used worldwide. Marilou was appointed to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, held the Ariel Sallows Chair in Human Rights at the University of Saskatchewan Law School and served as Chief Commissioner of Human Rights in Saskatchewan, before moving to The University of Winnipeg to become the dean (Principal) of Global College, where she also directs the Institute for International Women’s Rights, as part of offering western Canada’s first interdisciplinary undergraduate degree in Human Rights and Global Studies.
Dr. M. Victoria Pérez-Ríos graduated from the school of law of Saragossa (Spain) and has defended her dissertation on the Judicial Implementation of International Human Rights Law at the PhD program in Political Science of the Graduate School of CUNY (City University of New York). Currently she is the Assistant Director of the Center for International Human Rights and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, where she teaches intro to American government and international human rights. Her interests include international criminal law, rights of immigrants in Western Europe and transgovernmental networks.
Indai Sajor is an internationally known activist and educator in the field of women’s human rights and conflict prevention and response. She recently worked as Programme Manager of Gender Equality project with UNDP Afghanistan. Before that she was Senior Advisor for UNDP Sudan managing a sexual and gender based violence project (SGBV) in Darfur. Likewise she was senior human rights officer with the UN mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea. In 2003-4 she was awarded the Rockefeller Fellow on Human Security and Gender at the City University of New York Graduate School. She has been Executive Director of the Women’s Caucus for Gender Justice to the International Criminal Court in New York. She served as co-convener of the Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan’s Military Sexual Slavery, an international law landmark initiative that recognized sexual slavery as a crime against humanity. She is a visiting Professor at the UN University of Peace in the IPS masters programme teaching Gender and Peacebuilding. Her numerous publications include Documenting Women’s Human Rights Violations in Armed Conflict (2005), The Impact of Chemical Warfare into the Reproductive Rights of the Women and Men in Vietnam (2000, co-edited with Le Thi (Nham Tuyet), Common Grounds: Violence Against Women in War and Armed Conflicts (1998).
Kristine St-Pierre joined the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre (PPC) in September 2007 as a Research Analyst. Kristine oversees the PPC’s Women in Peace Operations applied research initiative, which seeks to identify the challenges to women participation in field missions, and strengthen the support network of women involved in peace operations. In 2008, she spent two months in Kenya, supporting the delivery of two SGBV courses, which brought together 56 female police officers currently serving as gender officers in the African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur. In addition, Kristine is the managing editor of the Pearson Papers and researches and publishes on emerging trends in complex peace operations. Before joining the PPC, she held positions with the United Nations Association of Canada, as well as the Stimson Center and the Canadian Mission to the European Union. Kristine holds a BA (Honours), Environmental Studies, University of Ottawa, and a Masters of International Affairs, with concentration on conflict management and resolution, Carleton University. Kristine is fluent in multiple languages and has extensive international travel experience.
Kavitha Suthanthiraraj currently serves as the International Program Coordinator for Global Action to Prevent War (GAPW). She has undertaken research and advocacy work in GAPW program areas including; women, peace and security and most recently on UN Peacekeeping with a publication “Standing for Change in Peacekeeping Operations”. Kavitha is an executive and founding board member of an NGO focusing its work in the South Asian Region, she also undertook extensive fieldwork and research in India and Sri-Lanka. Kavitha also has experience working at corporate foundations and collaborating with nonprofits on fundraising/advocacy and sponsorship programs. Further, she has worked in media/PR/Marketing in the profit and nonprofit sector. Kavitha is also a performing artist who through the expression of dance has been involved in extensive community and grass root programs.
Karin Wachter, Gender-Based Violence Senior Technical Advisor, International Rescue Committee, has ten years of practical experience in Africa, specializing in gender-based violence programming and capacity building in humanitarian settings, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Burundi. Karin has been working with the IRC since 2002, having initially launched IRC’s gender-based violence program in eastern Congo that has gone on to assist thousands of women and girls through a network of local partners. Since 2006, Karin has served as a regional GBV Technical Advisor to a growing number of IRC programs. In that role, Karin has helped to design new and innovative GBV program models relevant to the specific phase of a humanitarian crisis and into the post-conflict context. She has played a key role in honing IRC’s approach for responding to sexual violence in emergencies and training staff on emergency GBV programming. Karin currently oversees IRC’s contributions to an inter-agency GBV information management system initiative.