2007 Participants
From mid-August to mid-December 2007, twelve 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). Now in its 18th year, the Program strengthens the skills of proven grassroots leaders and engages them in dialogues on globalization with members of the academic, NGO, policymaking, and corporate communities. With their practical knowledge and diversity of experiences, the Advocates are available as speakers, experts, and collaborators.
For more information, contact CSHR Program Coordinator Silvia Fernandez at +1 212.854.7372 or sf2321@columbia.edu.
Saeed Baloch (Pakistan), General Secretary of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, protects the rights of impoverished fisherfolk communities along the coast and inland waterways of Pakistan.
John Caulker (Sierra Leone), Executive Director of Forum of Conscience (FOC), draws attention to the role of diamond mining in Sierra Leone’s past war and pushes for recognition of the environmental degradation associated with mining.
Choijamts Delgermaa (Mongolia), Program Coordinator at the Center for Human Rights and Development, fights for the rights and empowerment of nomadic herders threatened by mining activities.
Nzene Durrel Halleson (Cameroon), Policy Officer for Global Village Cameroon (GVC), monitors and raises awareness on the impacts of energy policy and projects sponsored by international financial institutions on the local populations and the environment.
Mónica Iris Jasis (Mexico), Founder and Co-Director of Centro Mujeres, fosters the empowerment and wellbeing of women and adolescents in the state of Baja California Sur.
Sunthraporn Kestkaeo (Thailand), Project Manager for the Thai Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (TNP+), seeks to improve access to medical treatment and combat the stigma and discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS.
Ly Pisey (Cambodia), Junior Program Officer at Womyn’s Agenda for Change, advocates for sex workers’ rights, an end to violence against women and children, greater grassroots trade, and the restructuring of micro-credit programs.
Elavarthi Manohar (India), Director of Campaigns of Sangama, campaigns against provisions of the Indian Penal Code that discriminate against sexual minorities. In addition, he fights for the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS and for universal access to AIDS treatment.
Christian Mounzeo (Congo-Brazzaville), President of Meeting for Peace and Human Rights (RPHD), national coordinator of Publish What You Pay Coalition, and member of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Board, advocates for accountable and transparent management of Congo’s oil wealth.
Zachary Norris (United States), Director of the “Books Not Bars” initiative at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, fights to redirect California’s resources away from youth incarceration and towards the creation of youth opportunities, as well as to integrate marginalized communities into the green economy.
Sandeep Pattnaik (India), Research Associate for the National Center for Advocacy Studies (NCAS), protects the rights of the indigenous and the environment by studying the links between globalization, governance, and landlessness.
Priscila Rodriguez Bribiesca (Mexico), Litigation Program Officer at the Mexican Center for Environmental Law (CEMDA), develops legal strategies and campaigns to defend vulnerable and marginalized communities threatened by development projects.
Full Bios
Saeed Baloch • Pakistan
General Secretary
Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, www.pff.org.pk
As the General Secretary for the grassroots Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF), Saeed Baloch seeks to protect the economic, environmental, political, and social rights of Pakistan ’s poor coastal and inland fishing communities. PFF mobilizes community members to respond to problems of over-fishing by government-licensed deep-sea trawlers and local investors. Mr. Baloch draws attention to the use of destructive nets, implications of water pollution, and the negative impact of the military’s involvement on fishing grounds. He relies on a rights-based framework to advocate with community members for food security and the protection of these coastal villages and their livelihoods.
Mr. Baloch has served for years as an activist within the communities in Karachi, Sindh province, having himself been raised in one such fishing village, and he relies on his extensive and personal experience to fight for local groups. In addition to his work with PFF, Mr. Baloch also serves as the General Secretary of the Karachi chapter of Pakistan’s Muttahida Labour Federation and is a working member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
John Caulker• Sierra Leone
Executive Director
Forum of Conscience
As Executive Director of Forum of Conscience (FOC), John Caulker draws attention to the role of diamond mining in Sierra Leone’s past war and pushes for recognition of the environmental degradation associated with mining. Mr. Caulker strives to prevent recurring violence by connecting the root causes of Sierra Leone’s brutal conflict to the need for corporate accountability and transparency.
As the National Chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Working Group, Mr. Caulker has pressured the government of Sierra Leone to implement the recommendations of the TRC’s 2004 report. Specifically, he has fought to ensure that some of the revenues from the sale of Sierra Leone’s natural resources benefit Sierra Leoneans themselves in the form of a special fund for war victims. As part of this effort to raise awareness and guarantee protection for the rights of victims of the conflict, Mr. Caulker also mediated an agreement that allows members of the Amputees and War Wounded Association to participate in the TRC and Special Court process.
Choijamts Delgermaa • Mongolia
Program Coordinator for Human Rights Advocacy
Centre for Human Rights and Development, www.chrd.org.mn
Choijamts Delgermaa serves as Program Coordinator at the Centre for Human Rights and Development (CHRD) in Mongolia where she fights for the rights and empowerment of nomadic herders. Ms. Choijamts currently leads an environmental advocacy program that focuses on fighting human rights violations associated with mining activities that threaten the livelihoods of herders. To raise public awareness of these human rights abuses, she has arranged stakeholder workshops, developed training manuals on strategic litigation and environmental rights, and incorporated youth into political discussions.
Her team has also brought public interest cases against gold mining companies, monitored the courts’ independence, and conducted training and advocacy activities for judges on public interest and judicial independence. In addition, she lobbied for provisions in recent legislation governing access to information and the role of public participation in amendments to the Mineral Law and Local Administrative Law.
Nzene Durrel Halleson • Cameroon
Policy Officer
Global Village Cameroon
Nzene Durrel Halleson works as a Policy Officer for Global Village Cameroon (GVC), an NGO that monitors and raises awareness about energy policy and projects supported by international financial institutions. Mr. Halleson is currently focused on the impact of large dams on local communities and the environment. He recently prepared GVC’s impact assessment of World Bank energy financing in Cameroon within the Lom Pangar Dam project. He has intensively campaigned to raise concerns about the World Bank-sponsored Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline’s effects on the local population and environment.
In addition, Mr. Halleson has studied the development of renewable energy options for the rural and urban poor. He promotes good governance and democratic values in Cameroon and helps to establish GVC’s role as a leading research institution on issues of development in Cameroon. In addition to his work with GVC, Mr. Halleson works with the Centre for Environment and Development as a Project Researcher for the Gulf of Guinea Extractive Industries Monitoring Project.
Mónica Iris Jasis • Mexico
Founder & Co-Director
Centro Mujeres ( Women Center), www.centromujeresmexico.org
Mónica Iris Jasis, a physician and public health specialist, is the founder and co-director of Centro Mujeres, a community health organization dedicated to fostering the empowerment and well-being of women and adolescents in the state of Baja California Sur, Mexico. Founded in 1991, Centro Mujeres offers community health and leadership training services and pushes for domestic policy changes to strengthen the position of women and youth in society.
Dr. Jasis led a successful seven–year campaign that reformed the penal codes and health laws at the state level. The new laws now recognize the freedom of reproductive choice and criminalize domestic violence and sexual harassment. These reforms served as a basis for the recent institution of legal protections for abortion rights in Mexico City. Dr. Jasis also lobbies the local and federal governments as well as corporations to improve the quality of life for seasonal migrant workers who come from extremely poor states in Southern Mexico.
Sunthraporn Kestkaeo • Thailand
Project Manager
Thai Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, www.thaiplus.net
Sunthraporn Kestkaeo is a Project Manager with the Thai Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (TNP+) in Bangkok where she oversees the Project on Access to Treatment for People Living with HIV/AIDS. In her eight years with TNP+, Ms. Kestkaeo has sought to improve access to medical treatment, combat discrimination associated with positive diagnoses, and involve affected people in their own healthcare and policy decisions. She has recently begun a collaboration with a partner organization to promote access to treatment and voluntary counseling and testing in Bangkok.
Ms. Kestkaeo uses a rights framework to lobby for more affordable antiretroviral drugs through compulsory licensing, increased production of generic drugs, and challenges to pharmaceutical companies’ patent claims. She also raises awareness of the negative implications of U.S.-Thai free trade agreements for access to medical care. TNP+ has already been successful in convincing the Thai government to provide HIV treatment as part of its public healthcare plan.
Ly Pisey • Cambodia
Junior Program Officer
Womyn’s Agenda for Change, www.womynsagenda.org
As Junior Program Officer at Womyn’s Agenda for Change in Cambodia, Ly Pisey works in several issue areas: advocating for sex workers’ rights, ending violence against women and children, promoting grassroots trade, and fighting against badly structured micro-credit programs. Through the Sex Workers Empowerment Project, Ms. Ly collects data for case studies, mobilizes workers to lobby for their rights, and provides support to an independent union of sex workers. She works with team leaders to teach negotiation skills and advocate for safe working and living conditions as well as for adequate health care.
By collecting data and raising awareness among sex workers, factory workers, and farmers, Ms. Ly also calls attention to the poor lending policies of NGOs and private banks that charge exorbitant interest rates to rural populations. To support women’s issues, Ms. Ly helps women workers organize and communicate directly with policymakers and development agencies through a “Speak Out” program.
Elavarthi Manohar • India
Director of Campaigns
Sangama, www.sangama.org
Elavarthi Manohar is a highly respected activist in India who champions sexuality rights for lesbians, bisexuals, gays, and transgendered persons. He serves as the Director of Campaigns for Sangama, the premier Indian organization for sexual minorities that he originally founded. Mr. Manohar guides Suraksha, an NGO closely allied with Sangama, that fights for the rights of sex workers and sexual minorities in three districts of Karnataka, India.
Mr. Manohar dedicates his advocacy in particular to those most marginalized among sexual minorities, including poor and non-English speaking individuals as well as male and transgendered sex workers. He fights for the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS and for universal access to AIDS treatment. He has actively campaigned against Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that criminalizes sexual minorities and the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act that criminalizes most aspects of sex work. Mr. Manohar also mentors Karnataka Sexworkers Union, an independent trade union of sex workers.
Christian Mounzeo • Congo-Brazzaville
President
Rencontre pour la Paix et les Droits de l’Homme (Meeting for Peace and Human Rights)
Christian Mounzeo is President of Meeting for Peace and Human Rights (RPDH), National Coordinator of Congo’s arm of the international Publish What You Pay coalition, Member of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Board, and Vice-President of the Observatory of the Fight Against Corruption in Central Africa. A champion of human rights for over a decade, Mr. Mounzeo advocates for more accountable and transparent management of the Republic of Congo’s oil wealth.
Through RPDH, he has played a leading role in bringing to light human rights abuses and cases of impunity, torture, press freedom violations, arbitrary detentions, and disappearances. Most notably, he pressed for accountability in the “Beach Case,” the notorious extra-judicial killing of approximately 390 people in Congo after the 1997 Civil War. Mr. Mounzeo’s work has put him at great risk, resulting in his repeated arrest, detention, and prosecution by the Congolese authorities. Despite continued harassment, he seeks to build international alliances while strengthening Congolese civil society. His case illustrates the difficult context in which human rights defenders work.
Zachary Norris • United States
Director, Books Not Bars
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, www.ellabakercenter.org
Zachary Norris is the Director of the “Books Not Bars” initiative at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland, California. Through this program, Mr. Norris fights to redirect California’s resources away from youth incarceration and toward the creation of youth opportunities. As part of this effort, he provides training on court advocacy, recruits new families of incarcerated youth, addresses the media, lobbies the legislature, and coordinates rallies and campaigns.
At the Ella Baker Center, Mr. Norris contributes to advocacy efforts for the integration of marginalized Californian communities into the emerging green economy. This work has already resulted in businesses, community organizations, and the city of Oakland creating a “green job corps,” an employment pipeline into environmentally responsible industries for people with barriers to employment. Mr. Norris is committed to building grassroots alliances to link the social and environmental justice movements and create opportunities for disadvantaged California youth. As part of this mission, he seeks to connect the plight of marginalized peoples in the U.S. to the international human rights movement.
Sandeep Pattnaik • India
Research Associate
National Center for Advocacy Studies, www.ncasindia.org
Sandeep Pattnaik works as a Research Associate for the National Center for Advocacy Studies (NCAS), in Pune, India, protecting the rights of indigenous people and the environment. As part of the Campaign for Environment and Justice, Mr. Pattnaik organizes public hearings on the environmental impact of mining and industrial expansion. Through the Campaign for Survival and Dignity, Mr. Pattnaik has conducted fact-finding studies on the forced eviction of indigenous people from forest lands. This campaign led to the passage of the Scheduled Tribes and Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2005, which acknowledges the historical injustice done to indigenous communities and protects their inalienable rights to land and livelihood.
Despite the risk to his own security, Mr. Pattnaik has a long record of working to mobilize vulnerable communities, undertaking direct action, and using progressive legislation to hold the state responsible and accountable to the people. He is also associated with a variety of other movements and campaigns across India that address bonded labor and forced displacement.
Priscila Rodriguez Bribiesca • Mexico
Litigation Program Officer
Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental (Mexican Center for Environmental Law), www.cemda.org.mx
As an Officer for the Litigation Program at the Mexican Center for Environmental Law, Priscila Rodriguez Bribiesca is responsible for developing legal strategies and campaigns to defend vulnerable and marginalized groups threatened by development projects. Specifically, Ms. Rodriguez has been involved in movements opposing the construction of a hydroelectric dam on the Papagayo River and an open-air landfill in Morelos state. She has also represented local communities along the Atoyac River affected by industrial waste, defended local fishermen when their access to fisheries was blocked, and fought against the construction of a Costco supermarket in a protected natural and historical area.
In addition to her legal work, Ms. Rodriguez researches environmental issues, builds alliances with academic groups, raises public awareness, and facilitates workshops on defending communities affected by public projects. She continues to push for greater environmental regulation and the achievement of favorable legal precedents in the Mexican judicial system.