HRAP – 2009 Participants

From mid-August to mid-December 2009, nine human rights leaders working on behalf of marginalized communities in the Global South and the United States will be in residence at Columbia University for the Human Rights Advocates Program (HRAP). Started in 1989, the Program provides opportunities for proven grassroots leaders to strengthen their skills and to participate in dialogues on globalization with members of the academic, NGO, policymaking, and corporate communities. The Advocates bring a wealth of practical knowledge and a diversity of experiences, and are available as speakers, experts, and collaborators.

These bios are also available as a pdf (1mb).

Evalyne Achan
Field Coordinator, CARE International
Gulu, Uganda

Evalyne is a field coordinator with the A Stake in Our Future project at CARE International in Uganda. The project was designed to build the capacity of the government to implement peacebuilding projects modeled on the framework of the Peace, Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP) designed for Northern Uganda. By monitoring implementation of the PRDP, the project also aims to empower communities in the Amuru and Pader districts of Northern Uganda to hold their government accountable for the transparent and efficient provision of goods and services. Prior to her appointment as a field coordinator, Evalyne worked for five years as a team leader/program officer for the Agency for Co-operation and Research in Development on issues of conflict, good governance, civic education, sexual and gender-based violence, and human rights programming and protection. Evalyne holds a Bachelor of Law (2001) from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda and a diploma in Conflict Transformation and Peace Building from the School for International Training in Vermont (2006).

Mary Akrami
Executive Director, Afghan Women Skills Development Center
Kabul, Afghanistan

Mary is the executive director of the Afghan Women Skills Development Center, which is the first women’s shelter in Kabul, Afghanistan. She saw a need for such a shelter when a woman was arrested after being accused of disrespecting her father-in-law. Although the woman was found innocent, she was afraid to leave the jail for fear of how her family and society would react to the incident. Mary realized that others like this woman need a safe place to go. Today the shelter also takes in runaways and women released from prison who do not feel safe returning home. The shelter’s staff provides legal advice, literacy classes, psychological counseling, and basic skills training. While reintegration of the shelter’s residents into society has remained a major challenge, Mary and her team continue to explore different avenues to realize this goal. Through their efforts, they now have the support of religious and social entities.

Under Mary’s leadership, several women at the shelter have made the virtually unprecedented move of denouncing their abusers publicly and filing court cases against them. Notwithstanding the threats she has received, she refuses to be intimidated and remains committed to her work. In celebration of International Women’s Day 2007, the U.S. Department of State recognized Mary, along with nine other women, with the Award for International Women of Courage. This is the first Department of State award that pays tribute to emerging women leaders worldwide and offers a unique opportunity to focus on transformational diplomacy in the field of international women’s issues.

Elsadig Elsheikh
Research Associate, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity
Columbus, Ohio

Elsadig joined the staff at Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at The Ohio State University in 2008 as a research associate for the international program, where he focuses on the racial/ethnic dimensions of various conflicts around the world. Before joining the Kirwan Institute, Elsadig worked with various grassroots and advocacy organizations in the areas of internally displaced persons, indigenous populations, human rights, immigration, anti-racism, and social mobilizations in Sudan, Greece, Colombia and the United States. VDM Verlag Dr. Müller recently published Elsadig’s book on Darfur entitled, Darfur: Domesticating Coloniality, The Failure of the Nation-State Model in Post-colonial Sudan (2008). Elsadig earned a Master’s in Social Justice and Sustainable Development (2008) and a graduate diploma in Conflict Transformation Across Cultures from the School for International Training in 2007. In 2005, he was awarded a Bachelor’s in Political Science & International Studies from The Ohio State University and prior to that he studied international relations at Panteion University in Athens, Greece. Originally from Sudan, Elsadig is now a U.S. resident.

Nazibrola Janezashvili
Project Director, Article 42 of the Constitution
Tbilisi, Georgia

Nazibrola began her work with Article 42 of the Constitution in 2004 as a lawyer on cases litigated in the domestic courts and investigating court rulings about bankruptcy laws. Since then, she has directed projects and workshops at this NGO, including the project “Strategic Litigation in the Caucasus,” which involved collaboration with the Netherlands Helsinki Committee and sought to create a network of human rights lawyers in Georgia.

In addition to working with Article 42 of the Constitution, Nazibrola has facilitated training courses in human rights with the British Council of Georgia and volunteered as an observer to the 2008 Presidential Election in Georgia. A member of the Georgian Bar Association, she earned her law degree from Tbilisi Humanitarian Institute in 2002. She has also received training certification from the International Summer School of Management in Limbazi, Latvia, as well as a grant from the Open Society Georgia Foundation and the Lane Kirkland Scholarship from the Polish-American Freedom Foundation. She participated in the 20th International Summer School on Human Rights organized by the Polish Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. In 2009, Nazibrola received financial support from the Polish-American Freedom Foundation for the project “Georgia at Present: Society, Culture and Traditions.” She organized a photo exhibition about Georgia named “People within the Conflict Zone” in Warsaw.

Karyn Kaplan
Co-Founder, Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group
Bangkok, Thailand

In 2002, Karyn co-founded the Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group (TTAG) with her partner Paisan Suwannawong, a leading advocate for Thai people living with HIV/AIDS. Karyn, a U.S. citizen, has lived in Thailand since 1988, working on HIV and human rights issues both in Thailand and internationally. Karyn worked in New York as an HIV and human rights officer at the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), a position she held for three years. Prior to her work at IGLHRC, Karyn worked for the Department of Evaluation and Research at Gay Men’s Health Crisis. She is a member of the Health Global Access Project.

Karyn has published articles in Health and Human Rights, a journal published by the Harvard School of Public Health, and numerous other publications. This year, she published a book with the Open Society Institute entitled, Human Rights Documentation and Advocacy: A Guide for Organizations of People Who Use Drugs (2009). In March 2009, Karyn and Paisan received the John M. Lloyd Foundation AIDS Leadership Award for their HIV/AIDS advocacy work. Karyn earned a Bachelor’s in French and English Literature from Tufts University.

Anna Kirey
Senior Advisor, Labrys
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

Anna has been involved with women’s and human rights organizations in Kyrgyzstan since 2000. Anna is a co-founder and past executive director of Labrys, an LGBT organization. She currently serves as a senior advisor to Labrys. Under Anna’s leadership, Labrys has become a strong grassroots organization working for the empowerment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and advocating for their rights at both the national and international level. In the past two years, Anna has participated in NGO delegations to the UN, lobbied for initiatives related to sexual orientation and gender identity, and presented reports about the situation of LGBT people in Central Asia. Anna has contributed to various research projects on violence against women, LGBT rights, and civil society in Central Asia. As a researcher with Kartini Network for Women’s/Gender Studies in Asia, she is currently collecting the oral histories of women loving women and transgender people in Central Asia. Anna received a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism with a minor in International and Comparative Politics in 2003 from American University of Central Asia in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. In 2004, she graduated from the United Nations-mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica with a Master’s in Gender and Peace Building. Anna is currently completing a Master’s thesis in the international social work program at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.

Akinyi M. Ocholla
Finance and Communications Officer, Minority Women in Action
Nairobi, Kenya

Akinyi has volunteered at Minority Women in Action (MWA), a Kenyan organization for lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and intersex women, since 2006. As MWA’s (volunteer) finance and communications officer, she helps coordinate the organization’s activities related to health, outreach, advocacy, general administration, and resource mobilization. Before joining MWA, Akinyi volunteered with Hawa Artists, a women’s art organization, and organized exhibitions for artists in Nairobi. She also helped women living in Turkana (a district in northwest Kenya) improve their skills in weaving and clay modeling. Akinyi is an artist whose works have been exhibited in Kenya, Italy, and the United Kingdom. She was awarded a Master of Science in Meteorology from the University of Nairobi in 2004. Born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and a Kenyan father, Akinyi now lives and works in Kenya.

Ambika Kumari Paudel
Advocacy and Publication Team Leader, Conscious Media Forum
Kathmandu, Nepal

Ambika works for Conscious Media Forum (CMF) as a team leader for the Advocacy and Publication department. Since 2004, Ambika has worked to enhance the participation of Dalits, women, indigenous peoples, and other marginalized communities in the development process by improving their access to and control over resources. Ambika is responsible for publication- and advocacy-related tasks that focus on health, HIV/AIDS, and women’s rights issues. She is also responsible for editing the in-house magazine, The Campaign, and for organizing networking opportunities that build support for other human rights and civil society organizations. Before joining the staff at CMF, Ambika interned as a reporter and assistant program producer for Radio Sagarmatha, the first independent community-based public radio station in South Asia. She now facilitates informal discussions on issues related to globalization and public health.

Ambika has researched social status access to resources and other related human rights issues in the most marginalized communities of Nepal including Badi, Chepang, Majhi, and Sonaha. She has conducted qualitative research on issues pertaining to HIV and violence against women. She has also researched the sexual and reproductive health rights of female workers in the garment industry following the expiration of the Multi Fiber Agreement and the consequent elimination of quotas. Ambika has contributed to Violence Against Women and HIV Cause and Consequence: Case Studies on Intersection of Twin Pandemics (a collaboration between CMF and ActionAid Nepal) and Reporting on HIV & AIDS: A Manual for Media Persons and Feminisation of HIV (a collaboration between CMF and ActionAid/Irish Aid). She is a member of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists and Asian Peoples Alliance for Combating HIV & AIDS. In 2007, Ambika earned a Bachelor’s in Sociology and Journalism from Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, Nepal, and she is currently pursuing a Master’s of Sociology.

Florencia Ruiz Mendoza
Researcher, Social Movements Historical Research Center
Mexico City, Mexico

The Social Movements Historical Research Center was created by a group of researchers, journalists, historians, and human rights activists in 2006 in response to their dissatisfaction with the findings of the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Social and Political Movements of the Past and to the minimal amount of attention paid to the period in
Mexico’s history known as the “dirty war.” The Center focuses on historical research related to the Mexican government’s actions during the country’s “dirty war.” At the Center, Florencia writes articles, lectures, and partners with other NGOs that work on the issue of forced disappearances in Mexico. She is also responsible for networking with NGOs around the world that work on issues of transitional justice. She has developed the work of the Center by raising funds for and supporting projects that promote transitional justice. She earned a Bachelor’s in History in 1998 from the National Autonomous University of Mexico.