Alain Le Roy

Secretary-General BAN Ki-moon announced on 30 June 2008 the appointment of Mr. Alain Le Roy of France as Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations.
Prior to his appointment, Mr. Le Roy was Conseiller Maître à la Cour des comptes and served as Ambassador in charge of the Union for the Mediterranean Initiative since September 2007.
Mr. Alain Le Roy brings an extensive experience in public administration, management and international affairs, both at the political level and in the field. After serving in the private sector as a petroleum engineer, he joined the public service as Sous-préfet, then as Counsellor at the Cour des comptes (French Audit office).
Mr. Le Roy was appointed as Deputy to the UN Special Coordinator for Sarajevo and Director of Operations for the restoration of essential public services. He went on missions for UNDP in Mauritania and was appointed UN Regional Administrator in Kosovo (West Region).
After having been National Coordinator for the Stability Pact for South-east Europe in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he was appointed European Union Special Representative in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. He was subsequently appointed Assistant Secretary for Economic and Financial Affairs in the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs, before serving as the French Ambassador to Madagascar.
He holds a degree in Engineering from the Ecole nationale supérieure des Mines de Paris; and a DEA in Economics from, Paris I and he also has completed the Program for senior managers in government at the Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Born in February 1953, he is married and has one son.

 

Arielle Denis

Vice Chair of International Peace Bureau
Co-Chair of Le Mouvement de la paix
Director of the redaction of the monthly magazine "Planète
Paix "
Author of "Mondialiser la Paix" (let's globalize peace)
ED. La Dispute-Paris

 

 

 

 

 

Adrienne Germain
President, International Women’s Health Coalition

Since her pioneering work for women’s equality in the 1970s and 80s with the Ford Foundation, Adrienne Germain has reshaped global policy on women’s health and human rights. A skilled strategist and negotiator on U.S. government delegations to world conferences on population, women, and development from 1993 to 2000, she helped revolutionize the way the world views population policy and funding by making women’s sexual and reproductive rights and health central. Under Ms. Germain’s leadership, the International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC) has created international policy innovations, led global advocacy for sexual and reproductive rights and health, and helped build local organizations in countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. She is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the editorial board of Reproductive Health Matters, the board of BRAC-USA, two Human Rights Watch Advisory Committees, the Programme Committee of the 2008 Global Ministerial Forum on Research for Health, and UNDP’s Expert Group on Gender and AIDS Responses. She served on the Millennium Development Goals Project Task Force on Child Mortality and Maternal Health; received an Honorary Doctorate from Bard College in 2001; and was named a Woman of Distinction by the Girl Scouts of Greater New York in 2005. She speaks and publishes extensively.

 

Alexander Likhotal

President and CEO of Green Cross International since 1996, Alexander Likhotal was born in Moscow, 1950.
PhD in Political Science in History from Moscow Institute of International Relations (1972), Mr. Likhotal started his academic career as a lecturer at the Moscow State Institute for International Affairs, and later became senior research fellow at the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR.
In 1988 he became Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the Diplomatic Academy, and in the same year was appointed Vice-Rector.
During the time of Gorbachev's perestroika, already being a well-known expert in European security, he became the Head of the European security desk at the International Department of the Central Committee for the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (top Soviet foreign policy co-ordination body), later becoming Head of the Consultants Group, adviser/speechwriter unit working directly for the Soviet leadership.
In 1991 Mr. Likhotal was appointed Deputy Spokesman and Adviser to the President of the USSR. He remained with President Gorbachev (after his resignation) as his adviser and spokesman and worked at the Gorbachev Foundation as the International and Media Director.
He was a visiting professor at the Northeastern University, Boston, USA (1996-1998), Research Associate at the institute of European Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow (1992 - 1997), and Associate Editor of Security Dialogue Journal, Oslo, Norway (1994-2000).
He is the author of several books and numerous articles.

 

Brita Fernandez Schmidt

Brita Fernandez Schmidt is Director of Operations at Women for Women International UK. Brita has a strong record of work on women’s human rights, gender, social inequality and development. She has worked with a number of different national and international human rights and development institutions over the past 15 years.
Prior to joining Women for Women International, she led the programmes & policy work of Womankind Worldwide, an international women’s human rights and development organisation based in the UK. Throughout her time there she worked with organisations in Latin America, Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe. Brita has also worked at the European Women’s Lobby in Brussels.
For the past 5 years, Brita was the Chair of the Gender & Development Network in the UK. She has just recently been appointed Commissioner to the Women’s National Commission in the UK where she leads on international issues.

 

David Whitefoord Steward

David Whitefoord Steward was born on 23 May 1945 in Nairobi, Kenya. He was educated in Canada, St John’s School, Leatherhead in the United Kingdom and at the Universities of Stellenbosch and South Africa.
Mr Steward entered the South African Foreign Service in December 1966 and served in Canberra (1968 – 1971): Ottawa as Deputy Head of Mission (1976 – 1978) and at the United Nations in New York, Deputy Permanent Representative (1978 – 1980) and Ambassador (1981-82). Between 1983 and 1985 he was responsible for negotiations on the independence of Namibia within the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Mr Steward served as Head of the South African Communication Service from 1985 until 1992. During this period he was responsible for repositioning the SACS as a provider of central communication services to the Government and for transforming the organisation to run according to business principles. In August 1992 he was appointed as Chief Government Spokesman within the Office of the President. Soon afterwards, in November 1992 he was appointed as Director-General (Chief of Staff) in the Office of President F W de Klerk. He served in this capacity and as Secretary to the Cabinet until May 1994. From May 1994 until October 1996 he was the Head of Mr De Klerk’s Office while the former President served as Executive Deputy President in the Government of National Unity.
Mr Steward retired from the public service in October 1996 and established his own consultancy specialising in public communication in which capacity he has carried out assignments for a number of clients, including the Government of the Western Cape Province.
Since his retirement from the public service Mr Steward has continued to work closely with former President F W de Klerk. He has been his principle speechwriter since 1990 and co-authored his autobiography “The Last Trek, a New Beginning” (Macmillan, 1999). He and the former President established the F W de Klerk Foundation in June 1999 and its Centre for Constitutional Rights in 2006. He has served as the Foundation’s Executive Director since its establishment.
Mr Steward married Lanice Angela Fletcher on 8 July 1983. They have two children, Anthony (24) and Camilla (22).

 

David Ives

I am the Executive Director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute at Quinnipiac University and an Adjunct Professor of Latin American Studies, Philosophy, International Business, and Political Science. I am a member of the Board of Directors for the International Albert Schweitzer Association, a member of the Board of Advisors for the World Centers of Compassion for Children with Betty Williams, a member of the International Steering Committee for the Arms Trade Treaty, and the International Steering Committee for the Middle Powers Initiative to combat nuclear weapons. He is also an Emmy winning producer of a documentary about the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Albert Schweitzer entitled My Life is My Argument and an election monitor for the Carter Center. Additionally, David conducts humanitarian trips for young people every year to work with the Rigoberta Menchu Foundation in Guatemala and with the Alianza Americana in Leon, Nicaragua.

 

Ime Akpan John

Dr. Ime Akpan John is a Physician and consultant in public health; - epidemiology, violence and injury prevention. He has expertise in safety promotion, conflict resolution and disarmament especially in Small arms and light weapons. Currently, Dr John is a PhD Candidate at Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden and a Co-President of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) 1985 Recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

 

 

 

 

 

Jayantha Dhanapala

Jayantha Dhanapala is a former United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs (1998-2003) and a former Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the USA (1995-7) and to the UN Office in Geneva (1984-87).
He is currently Chairman of the UN University Council and the 11th President of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs; a member of the Governing Board of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and several other advisory boards of international bodies.
As a Sri Lankan diplomat Dhanapala served in London, Beijing, Washington D.C., New Delhi and Geneva and represented Sri Lanka at many international conferences chairing many of them including the historic NPT Review and Extension Conference of 1995. He was Director of the UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) from 1987-92.
Dhanapala has received many international awards and honorary doctorates, has published four books and several articles in international journals and lectured widely. He speaks Sinhala, English, Chinese and French. He is married and has a daughter and a son.

 

Jonathan Granoff

Jonathan Granoff, President of the Global Security Institute is an award winning screenwriter and author and is Co-chair of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Senior Advisor to the Committee on National Security and Member of the Council of the International Law Section of the American Bar Association. He serves on numerous governing and advisory boards including the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy, the Jane Goodall Institute, the Bipartisan Security Group, and the Middle Powers Initiative. Mr. Granoff advocates worldwide, at the UN, before the US Congress and other parliaments, emphasizing the legal, ethical and spiritual dimensions of human development and security, with a specific focus on the threat posed by nuclear weapons.

 

Jahan Rounaq

Rounaq Jahan is a Senior Research Scholar and Adjunct Professor, International Affairs at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, New York, USA. She obtained a Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University, USA. She was a Professor of Political Science at Dhaka University, Bangladesh (1970-1982); Coordinator of the Women in Development Programme at UN Asia-Pacific Development Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (1982-84); and Head of the Programme on Rural Women at the International Labour Office, Geneva, Switzerland (1985-89). Professor Jahan is the author of several books and numerous articles. Her publications include: Bangladesh Politics, Dhaka: University Press Ltd., 2005; Bangladesh: Promise and Performance (editor), London Zed Books, 2000; The Elusive Agenda: Mainstreaming Women in Development, London, Zed Books, 1995; Bangladesh Politics: Problems and Issues, Dhaka: University Press Ltd., 1980; Women and Development: Perspectives from South and South East Asia (co-editor), Dhaka, Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs, 1979; and Pakistan: Failure in National Integration, New York: Columbia University Press, 1972. In addition to academia, Professor Jahan is involved with the work of many civil society organizations. She is the founder of Women for Women, a research and study group in Bangladesh. She serves on the advisory board of Human Rights Watch: Asia and is the Convenor of the Advisory Board of Bangladesh Health Watch, a civil society network. She lives and works both in Bangladesh and the USA.

 

Kari Tapiola

Mr. Kari Tapiola (Finland) has been with the ILO since 1996. Before joining the Organization, he was a member of the Governing Body, representing the Nordic Workers, for five years. He attended his first International Labour Conference as a Workers' delegate of Finland in 1974. In the Conferences 1991-1996 he was Workers' Vice-President of the Resolutions Committee. Mr. Tapiola worked in Finland as a journalist (1966-1972) and as the Political Secretary of the Minister for Foreign Affairs in 1972. He was International Secretary of the Central Organization of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) in 1972-1976; Special Assistant to the Executive Director of the United Nations Centre on Transnational Corporations (New York) in 1996-1998; and General Secretary of the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) to the OECD (Paris) in 1978-1985. In 1985 he became Information Director of SAK in Finland, moving on to International Affairs Director in 1988 up to the beginning of his assignment with the ILO. In his professional life, he has above all concentrated on the questions of multinational enterprises, globalization and labour standards, technological change and industrial relations, and the social problems of countries in transition.

 

Kevin Bales

Kevin Bales is President of Free the Slaves (www.freetheslaves.net), the US sister organization of Anti-Slavery International, and Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Roehampton University London and Visiting Professor at the Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation, U. of Hull. His book Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and published in ten languages. Desmond Tutu called it “a well researched, scholarly and deeply disturbing expose of modern slavery”. In 2006 his work was named one of the top “100 World-Changing Discoveries” by the association of British universities. He won the Premio Viareggio for services to humanity in 2000. The film based on Disposable People, which he co-wrote, won a Peabody Award and two Emmy Awards. He was awarded the Laura Smith Davenport Human Rights Award in 2005; the Judith Sargeant Murray Award for Human Rights in 2004; and the Human Rights Award of the University of Alberta in 2003. He was a consultant to the UN Global Program on Human Trafficking. Bales has advised the US, British, Irish, Norwegian, and Nepali governments, as well as the ECOWAS Community, on slavery and human trafficking policy. In 2005 he published Understanding Global Slavery. In 2007 he published Ending Slavery: How We Free Today’s Slaves, a roadmap for the global eradication of slavery. In 2008, with Zoe Trodd, he published To Plead Our Own Cause: Personal Stories by Today’s Slaves; and with seven of the Magnum photographers, Documenting Disposable People: Contemporary Global Slavery. In 2009, with Ron Soodalter, he will publish The Slave Next Door: Modern Slavery in the United States; and in the same year Modern Slavery also with Zoe Trodd. He is currently writing a book on the relationship of slavery and environmental destruction; and with Jody Sarich, a book exploring forced marriage worldwide. He gained his Ph.D. at the London School of Economics.

 

Kerry Kennedy

Kerry Kennedy is the mother of three daughters, Cara, Mariah and Michaela. After graduating from Brown University and Boston College Law School, Kerry Kennedy established the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights in 1988 to ensure the protection of rights codified under the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights.
She has worked on diverse human rights issues and she is the author of Speak Truth to Power: Human Rights Defenders Who Are Changing Our World . Kerry Kennedy is Chair of the Amnesty International USA Leadership Council.
She serves on the boards of directors of the International Centre for Ethics, Justice and Public Life at Brandeis University, the Inter Press Service, Human Rights First and the China Information Network.
She serves on the Board of Advisors for the Sakharov Award, the Buffalo Human Rights Law Review, the International Campaign for Tibet, the Committee on the Administration of Justice of Northern Ireland, the Global Youth Action Network, Studies without Borders and several other organizations. Kerry Kennedy received high honours from President Lech Walesa of Poland for aiding the Solidarity movement.
She has received awards from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. She was named Woman of the Year 2001 by Save the Children, received the Crossing Boarders Award from the Feminist press in 2003, Humanitarian of the Year Award from the South Asian Media Awards Foundation, and the Prima Donna Award from Montalcino Vineyards.

 

Lourdes Portillo

Director/Producer /Writer
Has produced and directed over a dozen works that reveal her signature hybrid style as a visual artist, investigative journalist, and Human Rights activist.
Portillo’s films include the Academy Award® and Emmy® Award nominated Las Madres: The Mothers of the Plaza de, she has received a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, Best Documentary at the Havana International Film Festival, the Nestor Almendros Award at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, and an Ariel, from the Mexican Academy of Arts and Sciences for Best Documentary.among her many recognitions.
Portillo’s work has screened at premiere cultural institutions and events around the world such as the Venice Biennale, Toronto International Film Festival, London Film Festival, the São Paulo International Film Festival, the Walker Art Center, the Whitney Museum for American Art, the Guggenheim Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and in the New Directors/New Films program presented by the Film Society at Lincoln Center and the New York Museum of Modern Art. She has been honored with eight mid-career retrospectives. She recently received a U S Artist Fellowship Award recognizing her as one of the finest film artist working in the United in 2008.

 

Luis Antonio Cordero

The Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress is a non-profit and non-governmental organization based in San José, Costa Rica. In 1987, Dr. Oscar Arias Sanchez, our founder and then president of the Republic of Costa Rica, assumed office at a time of great regional discord. His visionary goal of achieving a Central America free of war, inequality, and repression was expressed in what came to be known as the Arias Peace Plan. This initiative began to be realized with the signing of the Esquipulas II Accords by the Central American presidents on August 7, 1987, in Guatemala. This program marked the beginning of a regional process to establish peace, democracy, and development throughout Central America. For his efforts in the pacification of the region, Dr. Arias was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987. In response to this recognition and as a sign of his continual commitment to the cause, Dr. Arias donated the monetary grant from his Nobel Peace Prize and established the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress to promote democracy, gender equality, disarmament, demilitarization, and above all, a culture of peace in the region. In acknowledgment of the Foundation’s efforts, it has been awarded special consultative status by both the United Nations Economic and Social Counsel and the Organization of American States.
The Arias Foundation’s mission is to contribute towards the permanent integration of nations, the consolidation of peace and justice, and the strengthening of democracy in Central America; while also promoting demilitarization and the global reduction of arms. Since its creation, the Arias Foundation has accompanied and supported the civil society organizations and governments of the region through its programs and projects in three major areas: the action and participation of civil society, equal opportunity for women and gender equity, and the consolidation of a firm and lasting peace in the Central American region. Therefore, towards these ends, the Foundation has developed over 200 programs and projects, organized numerous national and regional forums, and published over 300 documents. The Foundation counts with the support of a wide network of partnerships and a track record of successful project management.
The Arias Foundation carries out its work through its three strategic areas: Area for Peace and Human Security, Area for Good Governance and Human Progress, and the Area for Advanced Studies and Investigation. The Area for Good Governance and Human Progress seeks to strengthen the participation and action of civil society in Latin America in order to contribute to public policies in a practical, tangible and effective way and to promote gender equity and equality of opportunities. The objective of the Area for Peace and Human Security is to promote the consolidation of peace and human security through the decrease of conflicts, prevention of violence, promotion of demilitarization and disarmament, and education for peace. This Area meets these goals through its four Programs: Central American Dialogue and Disarmament, Demilitarization and Security Forces, Esquipulas and Beyond, and Education for Peace. The Area for Advanced Studies seeks to encourage initiatives in education, research and training in the social sciences in order to contribute to the development of more just, equitable and democratic societies.

 

Massimo Barra

Massimo Barra is one of the first medical doctors in Italy to take care of drug users since 1974 at the Social Diseases Centre of Rome and then founding in 1976 Villa Maraini, the Foundation where he has been Director for more than 30 years. Red Cross Volunteer since the age of 8, Barra was National President of Italian Red Cross Youth for 8 years. Furthemore he was National Chairman of 70.000 active Volunteers in 1050 locations in Italy for 21 years long.
On December 11 2005, Dr. Massimo Barra was elected National President of the Italian Red Cross with 623 votes out of 637.
In Geneva at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Massimo Barra was from 1974 to 1982 President of Youth Commission, from 1982 to 1990 President of Development Commission, from 2004 to 2005 Vice-President, and has been again elected in November 2005 President of the Development Commission; he has taken part in more than 350 missions which have brought in more than one hundred Countries.
Chief of "Madonna del Tufo" Hospital (1986 - 2005), President of ERNA, European Red Cross Network on AIDS, from 1998 to 2003, in 2003 board member of the Global Fund (GFATM), he his author of hundreds of pubblications and articles concerning Red Cross, substance abuse, First Aid and AIDS.
On november 2007 he has been elected Vice President of the Standing Commission of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent.

 

Mary Ellen McNish

Mary Ellen McNish is General Secretary of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). In this position she administers a staff of 500 overseeing programs in 22 countries around the world and 46 cities in the US. AFSC is a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947 for its work in post World War II Germany on behalf of Quakers.
Today, AFSC’S work for peace and justice has enabled Mary Ellen to speak out on behalf of human rights, economic justice and conflict transformation. She has represented Quakers on peace delegations to North Korea, Iran, and Israel/Palestine. She has also represented AFSC at Nobel Peace Laureate Summit Meetings and participated in panel presentations with the Dalai Lama, Mohammed Yunus, Kim Dae-jung and Mikhail Gorbachev.
Mary Ellen has 35 years of progressive management experience in non-profit business settings. She has a B.S. in Education from East Stroudsburg University and a M.S. in Business from Johns Hopkins University.

 

Marta Santos Pais

Marta Santos Pais took up her post as Director of the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre in July 2001. From 1997 until then she was the Director of UNICEF’s Division of Evaluation, Policy and Planning.
With thirty years of experience in human rights law, Marta Santos Pais is the author of a large number of publications in human rights and children’s rights. Recently she was the Special Adviser to the UN Study on Violence against Children. She was a member of the UN Drafting Group of the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child and its two Optional Protocols. She participated in the development of a number of other international human rights standards, including:

• The Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms;
• The Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities;
• Protocol aiming at the abolition of the death penalty;
• Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances;
• Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Prior to joining UNICEF, Marta Santos Pais was Rapporteur of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child and Vice-Chairman of the Coordinating Committee on Childhood Policies of the Council of Europe, a Special Adviser to the Machel Study on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, Member of the Scientific Committee of the International Child Centre in Paris, and Visiting Professor International University, Lisbon, Portugal. In Portugal, she was Senior Legal Adviser for human rights in the Comparative Law Office and member of the Portuguese Commission for the Promotion of Human Rights and Equality. Marta Santos Pais is a Member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the International Journal of Children’s Rights and of the Advisory Board of the International Inter-disciplinary Course on Children’s Rights.

 

Morten Hovda

Mr. Morten Hovda (Norway) has been with the ILO since 2000 where he is a member of the Director-General’s Cabinet. Before joining the Organization he was Vice-President of Saga Petroleum, a Norwegian oil company, where he served in project management, program, industrial development, operations and eventually in the corporate management group (1984-2000). Prior to this, he worked on project developments in Statoil (1980-1984), Fred Olsen (1979-1980) and Elf Aquitaine (1976-1979). Mr. Hovda lectured for two years in the Master of Management degree programme at the Norwegian School of Management.

 

 

 

 

Paul A. Lacey

Paul A. Lacey is Clerk of the Board of Directors of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker humanitarian and social justice organization. Paul Lacey also serves as Clerk of the Corporation from whose number the AFSC Board of Directors is chosen. He began his new duties in November 2001.
Citing his talent, patience, experience, education, skill and sense of humor, Mary Ellen McNish, AFSC general secretary, further commented: “Paul’s prior experience working with AFSC and his many other accomplishments in business consultation and academia will be valued assets.”
Born in Philadelphia and educated in the Philadelphia public schools, Lacey received his BA from the University of Pennsylvania in 1957, and obtained his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1966. Author of numerous articles and recipient of many fellowships and awards, he is a Professor of English Emeritus at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. He is a member of the Clear Creek Monthly Meeting and the Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). He is also on the Board of the Friends Council on Education.
Paul Lacey’s involvement with AFSC began in 1954 with service on the Conscientious Objectors Services and Rights of Conscience Committee. He worked briefly in the Information Services Department and served on the Standing Nominating Committee, the AFSC Nobel Peace Prize Nominating Committee and the AFSC National Board of Directors.
The AFSC Board of Directors is responsible for overall program, policies and administration of the AFSC. Board members are chosen from the AFSC Corporation whose approximately 160 members are appointed by yearly meetings from around the country and by the Standing Nominating Committee.

 

Sona Khan

Sona Khan is a Senior Attorney in the Supreme Court of India. She is also a columnist for The Indian Express, The Hindu and The Hindustan Times. She is renowned for her work on developmental law, Muslim jurisprudence, child trafficking and women's rights, particularly with regard to women's inheritance rights framed by intersecting Secular, Constitutional law and Religious Legal Systems. She is perhaps best known for her role in the landmark Shah Bano case which revolved around the significant legal and social issue of a Muslim woman, exploring the possibility of claiming maintenance under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code of India, Amina Lawal, Imrana etc.. Ms.Khanhas been the Halle Distinguished Fellow at the Clause M.Halle Institute for Global Learning at Emory University, Georgia, USA Mrs. Khan has significantly contributed to the constitutional building exercise of Afghanistan and some countries of African Union.

 

Sylvie Brigot

Sylvie Brigot is an Executive Director of The International Campaign to Ban Landmines, The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) is a network of over 1000 organizations in more than 70 countries, working for a world free of landmines and cluster munitions. Many ICBL members are involved at an operational level in clearance, risk education or victim assistance. Other members include human rights, humanitarian, children, peace, disability, veterans, medical, development, arms control, religious, environmental and women's groups. As a network, the ICBL’s role is largely a monitoring and advocacy one: raising the voice of civil society so that our concerns are heard by decision makers. Through the annual Landmine Monitor Report, the ICBL monitors the international community’s response to the global landmine and explosive remnants of war problem.
The ICBL was awarded the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, together with its then coordinator, Jody Williams, in recognition of its role in bringing about the Mine Ban Treaty. The Norwegian Nobel Committee emphasized that the Campaign had changed the ban on landmines "from a vision to a feasible reality", and that by working with small and medium-sized countries, it had set "a convincing example of an effective policy for peace". 80% of the world’s states have adhered to the treaty.
As one of the leading members of the Cluster Munition Coalition, the ICBL is engaged in the global effort to ban cluster munitions and to address their humanitarian impact. Inspired by the success of the Mine Ban Treaty, 107 States have negotiated a new convention banning cluster munitions, which opens for signature on 3 December 2008 in Oslo.

 

Rajendra Kumar Pachauri

Dr Rajendra K Pachauri assumed his current responsibilities as the Chief Executive of TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) in 1982, first as Director and, since April 2001, as Director-General. TERI does original research and provides knowledge in the areas of energy, environment, forestry, biotechnology, and the conservation of natural resources to governments, institutions, and corporate organizations worldwide. In April 2002, Dr Pachauri was elected the Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, established by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme in 1988 (Re-elected in September 2008). IPCC along with former Vice President Al Gore has been awarded the “Nobel Peace Prize” for the year 2007. He has been active in several international forums dealing with the subject of climate change and its policy dimensions.
He was conferred with the “Padma Vibhushan”, second highest civilian award, for his services in the field of science and engineering in January 2008 by the President of India.
To acknowledge his immense contributions to the field of environment, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the President of India in January 2001. He was also bestowed the “Officier De La Légion D’Honneur” by the Government of France in 2006.
Commencing his career with the Diesel Locomotive Works, Varanasi, where he held several managerial positions, Dr Pachauri joined the North Carolina State University in Raleigh, USA, where he obtained an MS in industrial engineering in 1972, a Ph.D. in industrial engineering and a Ph.D. in economics. He also served as Assistant Professor (August 1974-May 1975) and Visiting Faculty Member (Summer 1976 and 1977) in the Department of Economics and Business.
On his return to India, he joined the Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad, as Member Senior Faculty (June 1975-June 1979) and went on to become Director, Consulting and Applied Research Division (July 1979-March 1981). He joined TERI as Director in April 1982.
He has also been a Visiting Professor, Resource Economics, at the West Virginia University (August 1981-August 1982); Senior Visiting Fellow, Resource Systems Institute, East-West Center, USA (May-June 1982); and Visiting Research Fellow, The World Bank, Washington, DC (June-September 1990). Recognizing his vast knowledge and experience in the energy-environment field, the United Nations Development Programme appointed him as part-time adviser to its Administrator in the fields of energy and sustainable management of natural resources (1994-99).
Dr Pachauri's wide-ranging expertise has resulted in his membership of various international and national committees and boards. At the international level, these include his positions as Adviser, International Advisory Board, Toyota Motor Corporation, Japan, April 2006 onwards, Member, Board of the International Solar Energy Society (1991-97); Member, World Resources Institute Council (1992); President and Chairman, International Association for Energy Economics, Washington, D C (1988, 1989-90, respectively); and President, Asian Energy Institute (1992 onwards). He has also joined the board of the Global Humanitarian Forum, recently founded by former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan.
At the national level the committees of the Government of India to which he has contributed include the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India (July 2001 to May 2004); Advisory Board on Energy, reporting directly to the Prime Minister (1983-88); National Environmental Council, under the Chairmanship of the Prime Minister (November 1993 to April 1999); and Oil Industry Restructuring Group, 'R' Group, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (1994). Currently he is member of the Prime Minister’s Advisory Council on Climate Change.
Dr Pachauri has also been associated with academic and research institutes. He is on the Board of Directors of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (June 2006) and also on the Board of Directors of the NTPC Limited (January 2006). He was on the Board of Directors of the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (January 1999 to September 2003); Board of Directors of GAIL (India) Ltd. (April 2003 to October 2004); National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (August 2002 to August 2005); the Board of Governors, Shriram Scientific and Industrial Research Foundation (September 1987-1990); the Executive Committee and then the Board of Trustees of the India International Centre, New Delhi (1985 onwards); the Governing Council and President (September 2004 – September 2006) of the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi (October 1987 onwards); and the Court of Governors, Administrative Staff College of India (1979-81).
In September 1999, he was appointed Chairman of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Heritage Foundation. Earlier, in April 1999, he was appointed Member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Environment Agency, Government of Japan, in which position he still continues.
Dr Pachauri taught at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, USA, as a McCluskey Fellow during 6 September-8 December 2000. He has also authored 23 books and several papers and articles.
He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the India International Centre, and Vice President of the Bangalore International Centre, and he was the President of the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi during the period September 2004 to September 2006.

 

Tomas Magnusson

Tomas Magnusson was elected President of the International Peace Bureau in 2006, after having served an eight year term as Vice President. International Peace Bureau is a member based network of some 300 peace associations in 50 countries, and won the Nobel Peace Prize already in 1910.
He has been an organizer and activist in the International and the Swedish Peace movement since his youth. During six years he was President of the leading Swedish Peace movement, the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society. He is also member of the International Coordinating Committee calling for protests against Natos role as threatening world peace.
Although a journalist by education, his professional work is as director of the Gothenburg Initiative, an umbrella organisation working with refugee related issues, which is interpreted as support and integration of refugees into the Swedish Society, to support migration and voluntary repatriation, and to organise aid and rebuilding projects in the countries of origin of refugees, mainly through the knowledge and implementation by former refugees – today mainly Iraq, Somalia and Somaliland and Afghanistan. He is also president of a Swedish Folk-high school named Fia in Angered, Sweden, and is a board member of many Swedish NGOs.

 

Vappu Taipale

Professional Career
1980-82 Professor of Child Psychiatry, Univ. of Kuopio
1982-83 Minister of Health and Social Welfare, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health
1983-84 Minister of Social Welfare, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health
1984-91 Director General, National Board of Social Welfare
1991-92 Director General, National Agency for Welfare and Health
1992 Director General, National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health STAKES

Other professional experience
1982-92 Founding Member and Vice-Chair, PSR Finland
2006 Member of the board. PSR Finland
1986 Member, IPPNW Global Campaign, China and Japan
1988 Member, IPPNW Global Campaign, India and Pakistan
1989-92 Member, Commission for Social Development, United Nations
1989-93 Chair, Board of Directors, Peace Education Institute
1991-03 Member of the Board, Finnish Committee of UNICEF
1991 Member, UN Mission on Social Development, Moscow
1994 Member, Distinguished Advisory Board, IPPNW
1994 Member of the Board, SatelLife
1996 Chair, UN Mission on Social Developmental Issues in Macedonia
1997-99 Chair, International Society of Gerontechnology
1998 Chair, EU Mission on Social Developmental Issues in Albania
1998-01 Chairperson, the Fifth Framework Programme External Advisory Group on "The ageing population", European Commission
2001-07 Member (2001-, Chair 2004-), UN University Council
2005 Member, the Seventh Framework Programme Advisory Group on Health, European Commission
2008 Co-President, IPPNW