Human Rights Watch

Minky Worden is the Media Director for Human Rights Watch. She first came into contact with the Overseas Press Club while working in Hong Kong as Chief of Staff and Spokesperson for Democratic Party Chairman Martin Lee. Worden has worked at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. as a speechwriter for the Attorney General, and in the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys. She is a graduate of Vanderbilt University, is fluent in Cantonese and German, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Tom Malinowski. Tom Malinowski has been Washington Advocacy Director for Human Rights Watch since April 2001. He has served as Special Assistant to President Clinton and Senior Director for Foreign Policy Speechwriting at the National Security Council. He also served as speechwriter for Secretaries of State Albright and Christopher as an aide to the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

Barbara Finberg is vice president of MEM Associates, a not-for-profit organization whose principals are engaged in program planning, development, and institutional management in philanthropy and nonprofit organizations; in education about the nonprofit sector; and in children's health, education, and development. Previously, she served as a program officer, vice president for programs, and executive vice president of Carnegie Corporation of New York, a grant-making foundation. In 1965, she initiated the foundation's grant making in early childhood education, which included the plan for and launching of Sesame Street. From 1996 through 1998, Mrs. Finberg was chair of Independent Sector, the national organization of more than 740 philanthropic and nonprofit organizations in the United States. She is currently a member of several governing boards, including High/Scope Educational Research Foundation, the Parent-Child Home Program, Educational Equity Concepts, The University of Cape Town (South Africa) Fund, the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp Fund, and Charity Lobbying in the Public Interest. She is also a member of four advisory committees at Stanford University, her alma mater, including the Institute for Research on Women and Gender, and two at Human Rights Watch.

Eddie Mandhry, Senior Trainer & Curriculum Specialist, holds a BA in Political Science/African Studies from Hampshire College, and MS. in International Relations from the London School of Economics. He has studied International Affairs and French in Geneva, Switzerland with the School for International Training. Prior to joining Global Kids he interned with The Hague Appeal for Peace in New York, The Aga Khan Foundation in Geneva and the Inter Africa Committee (IAC) on Harmful Traditional Practices Against Women and Children also in Geneva. He is an active member of the Human Rights Watch Young Advocates Program in New York City. A Kenyan national, Eddie has traveled extensively in Europe and Africa. He is fluent in Kiswahili with basic understanding of French and Amharic. Angela Mazer, Millennium Organization Human Rights Fellow, holds a Bachelora??s Degree in International Development Studies with a minor in Policy Studies from UCLA. She volunteered for six summers in Croatia with the Global Children's Organization as camp counselor for children affected by war in the Balkans. Angela has conversational ability in the Serbo-Croatian-Bosnian language and spent one year working in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina with the Education for Peace Institute. Angela has lived in Switzerland and traveled to Italy, Mexico, Guatemala and Peru. She speaks the Swiss-German dialect and has studied Spanish and French.

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Jill Dawson is a Georgia native and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and International Relations from Berry College in 2001. She graduated from Seton Hall University School of Law with a Juris Doctorate in Comparative and International Law in 2005. She is a former intern and special legal consultant for Human Rights Watch, and assisted in the recent publication of a compendium on the caselaw of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. In 2006, Jill served as a stagiaire at the European Court of Justice as a fellow with the Dean Acheson Legal Scholarship Program. This will serve as her eighth SRMUN conference, and second as Executive Director of Operations. Jill has previously directed the African Union, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Law Commission and served as Secretary-General of SRMUN XVI.

Joyce Mends-Cole was UNHCR's senior coordinator for refugee women/gender equality a post she held for four years. As coordinator she worked to change attitudes and practice in UNHCR to ensure that refugee women participate in decisions about their lives and to increase assistance and protection provided to them. Joyce came to UNHCR from the United Nations Development Programme, where she was the senior regional gender advisor for the Africa Bureau, based in Ethiopia. She began her UN career in UNIFEM, as a consultant, later becoming the UNIFEM advisor to the Department of Humanitarian Affairs (now OCHA). Joyce has served on a number of boards, including the Women's Commission. She is presently on the Advisory Board of the Women's Rights project of Human Rights Watch. Joyce is a lawyer and has worked on development, displacement, justice and women's rights issues for the past 20 years. She is a former staff member of Human Rights Watch and was an aide to a member of the U.S. Congress. She is a Liberian and has been involved in peace and reform efforts in that country.

Lindsay Gray joined Enterprise Canada from the not-for-profit sector, where she worked with Toronto's Ronald McDonald House, the Sick Kids Foundation and The Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation. Her work with these organizations included communications, creative development and planning for a wide variety of community events. Since joining Enterprise Canada's team in 2005, Lindsay has been actively involved in numerous communications projects, including the planning and execution of a major Summit on Arthritis Standards of Prevention and Care, consultation tours on behalf of the Government of Ontario, and public relations in the area of sustainable energy. Lindsay has a Masters degree in International Social Development from the University of New South Wales in Sydney Australia, and a Bachelor degree in International Relations from the University of Calgary. She speaks French and Mandarin Chinese. She continues to volunteer with Toronto's Ronald McDonald House, Human Rights Watch and the Ethics Centre of Canada.

Marya Stark is the Executive Director of Emerge America. She is one of the founding board members of the first affiliate Emerge: Women Leaders for a Democratic Future. She served as co-chair of its selection committee for the previous three years. Marya brings 15 years of leadership experience from the public, private and non-profit sectors. Her background includes building non-profit education and mentorship programs as a co-founder of Kids Computer Workshop, strong analytic skills as a demographer for the CIA, marketing and online media as the Senior Vice President of Urban Box Office Networks, and fundraising for various organizations including Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Human Rights Watch, and the American Red Cross. Marya holds a B.S. in Business Administration from UC Berkeley and an M.A in Demography from Georgetown University.

Megan joined OBDC in 2000, and currently oversees the operations of the organization, including the underwriting and marketing for all of OBDC's loan programs. Over her tenure at OBDC she has directly helped over 100 businesses in Oakland and the greater Bay Area access more than $4 million in start-up and expansion financing. Prior to OBDC, Megan worked in investment banking in the mergers and acquisitions field. She graduated from Stanford University with a degree in International Relations and has been certified by the National Development Council as an Economic Development Finance Professional. Her significant overseas experience includes working at Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International in Washington DC and Auckland, New Zealand. A former player on the U.S. National rugby team, Megan currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Stanford Rugby Foundation. Megan is also fluent in Spanish.

Catherine Powell is associate clinical professor of law at Columbia University and executive director of the Human Rights Institute. Catherine Powell joined the Columbia Law School faculty in 1998, and helped launch the school's Human Rights Institute, which she directs, and founded the school's Human Rights Clinic, which she teaches. Prior to coming to Columbia, Powell was an assistant counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. She is term member of the Council of Foreign Relations and is on the New York City Bar Association's Human Rights Committee. In addition to being to being in the Board of Human Rights Watch, she is a member of the advisory committee for Human Rights Watch/Women's Rights Division and is on the board of WILD for Human Rights. She has also served as a consultant for Human Rights Watch on a fact-finding mission to South Africa, and as a member of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights delegation to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China. From 1993 to 1994, she clerked for Judge Leonard B. Sand of the Southern District of New York. From 1992 to 1993, Powell was a Ford Fellow in Public International Law at Harvard Law School. Her publications include "Locating Culture, Identity and Human Rights," in the Columbia Human Rights Law Review (Spring 1999); "(Dis)assembling Rights of Women Workers Along the Global Assembly Line: Human Rights and the Garment Industry," in Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review (with Ho and Volpp, 1996); and "Life at Guantanamo Bay: Detention of Haitian Refugees," in Reconstruction (1993). Powell received her B.A. from Yale, her M.P.A. from Princeton and her J.D. from Yale, where she was a senior editor of the Yale Law Journal.

Jane Olson has devoted her life to international justice and humanitarian work. She chairs the International Board of Human Rights Watch and also chairs the board of Landmine Survivors Network. She recently joined the board of the Pacific Council on International Policy and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Jane has received numerous awards, including the inaugural 2005 Eleanor Roosevelt Award from Feminist Majority; the Silver Achievement Award from the YWCA of Greater Los Angeles; and the Community Achievement Award from Public Counsel. She and her husband, attorney Ronald L. Olson, reside in Pasadena, CA. They have three grown children and eight grandsons.

Dr. Axworthy was a member of the House of Commons of Canada for 21 years, including five years as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. In 2003, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and is currently the President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Winnipeg. Dr. Axworthy was elected to the Board on June 1, 2006.

Shibley Telhami is Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., and one of America's most notable Middle East commentators. A frequent contributor to the Washington Post, The New York Times, the Boston Globe and the Los Angeles Times, he also hosts a weekly radio commentary that is broadcast throughout the Middle East. Previously a board member of the United States Institute of Peace, he is currently a member of the board of Human Rights Watch. His new book, The Stakes: America and the Middle East , was recently published by Westview Press and will be available for purchase and signing at the program.

Chiara developed her client services expertise on Madison Avenue, directing account activity for entertainment clients at ad agencies J. Walter Thompson, Young & Rubicam and SSC&B Lintas. Her clients included Disney/Touchstone Pictures, Warner Bros., and Ron Delsener Enterprises (now SFX). Chiara is a decade-long board member of Human Rights Watch, a former president of American Women in Radio & Television in Southern California and a founding member of Women of Los Angeles. She graduated from Syracuse University with degrees in Management and Communications. Born in Locarno, Switzerland, Chiara is fluent in Italian.

David C. Fathi is senior staff counsel at the ACLU National Prison Project in Washington, DC, where he and his colleagues bring challenges to conditions in prisons, jails, and juvenile facilities throughout the United States. He has been plaintiffs' counsel in challenges to "supermax" prisons in four states, and currently represents prisoners in a challenge to conditions in the Maricopa County (Arizona) Jail, operated by the infamous Sherrif Joe Arpaio. He is a graduate of the University of Washington and the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley.

After a career in newspaper journalism that spanned three decades and included stints as editor and publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times and publisher of the New York Daily News, James Hoge has been editor of Foreign Affairs magazine for the last 12 years. Under his direction, the Sun-Times and the Daily News won a total of seven Pulitzer Prizes. At Foreign Affairs, he has doubled the circulation to an all-time high of 140,000. Hoge has also sat on and chaired Pulitzer Prize juries. He is chairman of the International Center for Journalists and vice chairman of Human Rights Watch.

John Studzinski is a Senior Managing Director and global head of the Corporate and Mergers and Acquisitions Advisory group with The Blackstone Group. He is Vice-Chair and Director of Human Rights Watch, Chair of the Emmaus Revives Lives campaign, and serves as a Trustee of Bowdoin College, The Passage Day Centre for the Homeless and the Nelson Mandela Legacy Trust (UK). In 2007, Mr Studzinski stepped down as a trustee of the Tate and became Chairman of Benjamin Franklin House. In 2001, he established the Genesis Foundation which supports and nurtures emerging composers, directors, writers and actors into careers in the arts. Mr. Studzinski was made a Knight of the Order of St. Gregory for his humanitarian work for the homeless. He was also made a Knight Commander of Saint Sylvester. He received the Prince of Wales Ambassador's Award in recognition of his contribution to the homeless and the Beacon Prize in 2004 for services to philanthropy. In October 2007 he was voted Banker of the Year by the Variety Club UK.

Jorge Castaneda was Foreign Minister of Mexico from 2000 to 2003. In 1997, he was appointed Global Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Latin American Studies at New York University. He is a Member of the Board of Human Rights Watch and of One Laptop per Child (OLPC).

Mr. Mailman has helped start several grantmaking foundations and philanthropic business initiatives since the early 1980s, including the Threshold Foundation and the Social Venture Network, which brings together private investors, company founders and social entrepreneurs with a shared commitment to create a more just and sustainable society through business. He co-founded Business for Social Responsibility in 1992, now one of the largest national organizations focused on promoting business and social responsibility simultaneously. Mr. Mailman is a trustee of the Sigrid Rausing Trust, an advisor to the Rudolf Steiner Foundation, and a board member of the Mailman Foundation. In addition to the Fund, Mr. Mailman serves on the boards of Human Rights Watch, Witness, Sierra Madre Alliance, Blacksmith Institute, Afropop Worldwide, and the Environmental Defenders Law Center.

Peter Bouckaert is the Emergencies director for Human Rights Watch and was interviewed from Southern Lebanon today. He is continuing to document conditions there in the aftermath of war and discusses the impact on villages, the use of cluster bombs and war crimes committed by Israel and Hezbollah. Bouckaert is a University of California at Santa Barbara graduate and the recipient of the Storke Award, the highest honor given an undergraduate. He has worked on human rights issues in the US, South Africa and in conflict zones in Chechnya, Sudan, Iraq and Afghanistan among others.

Virginia Leary is a Professor Emeritus of Law, State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law. She is a member of the Board of Human Rights Watch/Asia and of the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. She has written extensively on human rights issues with a concentration on labour and health rights.

Frank Lin is a freshman majoring in economics at the University of Chicago. He is interested in international economic development and foreign policy, particularly with regards to the Middle East, as well as comparative political philosophy. Frank is an associate of the Telluride Association and a member of Human Rights Watch.

Sara has more than twenty years of extensive experience in journalism, advocacy and all aspects of public relations. Most of her career has been based in Washington, DC, where she worked on Capitol Hill and for nonprofits lobbying the government, including as a: writer and public affairs consultant for a leading international humanitarian organization; director of public relations and marketing for a national trade association; managing editor of a national nonprofit's magazine; congressional press secretary; and media consultant for a presidential campaign. Sara now lives in Palo Alto with her wonderful 10-year old son and their golden retriever Scooter. She is a volunteer at Addison Elementary School and a member of Human Rights Watch's California Committee North. Originally from Texas, Sara received her master's degree from Georgetown University, focusing her studies in political philosophy and media and ethics.